A portion of the $4 billion pension fund for Houston firemen has been allocated to cryptocurrency, the fund is responsible for the benefits of more than 6,600 active and retired firefighters as well as surviving family members.
According to a Bloomberg report published on Thursday, the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund used the New York Digital Investment Group, or NYDIG, to buy $25 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
According to public records obtained by the Texas comptroller’s office, the pension fund had more than $4.1 billion in total net assets as of June 2020, indicating that digital assets accounted for around 0.6 percent of its portfolio.
Ajit Singh, the fund’s chief investment officer, said, “We have been researching this as an asset class to add to our investment portfolio for quite some time.” “It became an asset class we couldn’t afford to overlook any longer.”
He continued, “
“As more and more institutional adoptions happen, there will be more and more dynamics that develop for supply and demand. And having physical assets — actual tokens — gives us in the future the possibility of income generation potential.”
More than 6,600 active and retired firefighters, as well as surviving family members, are covered by the fund. According to the firm, common and private equity account for more than half of the fund’s assets, which also comprise domestic and international stocks, bonds, cash, and real estate…
In June, retirement plan provider ForUsAll offered its clients the option of investing up to 5% of their portfolio assets in cryptocurrencies, claiming that US citizens would be at a “disadvantage” if their retirement plans did not include crypto assets..
Grayscale also revealed earlier this year that pension funds and endowments were actively investing in its crypto-related funds.