Virginia public pension funds seek Bitcoin exposure

The Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System (PORS) and Fairfax County Employees' Retirement System (ERS) are seeking approval to invest directly in an investment fund that provides Bitcoin offerings along with other crypto derivatives.

The two Virginia public pension funds are willing to invest $50 million in a Parataxis Capital Management fund, according to a Bloomberg report.

Both retirement funds came under the spotlight in 2018 when they ventured into the blockchain space. The ERS invested 0.3% ($10 million) of its holdings into the Morgan Creek Blockchain Opportunities Fund while PORS invested 0.8% ($11 million). They followed it up with a $52 million investment the following year.

The majority of the fund will be invested in blockchain firms, with only 15% going into cryptocurrencies themselves.

Since the systems control billions in investment money generated from returns on employee and country contributions, it is easy to understand why they would want some added exposure.

Back in December, JPMorgan predicted said that pension funds could pull $600 billion into Bitcoin.

PORS is convinced that crypto markets are not showing the true value of cryptocurrencies. The fund’s Chief Investment Officer Katherine Molnar told Bloomberg:

It’s an area that’s going to grow in adoption and interest. We think that it’s inefficient enough, so we think there are some alpha opportunities to take advantage of.