The State of Wisconsin has sold its entire $350 million U.S. stake in a spot %Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The Wisconsin Investment Board, one of the first U.S. state pension funds to invest in %Cryptocurrency, exited its entire position in the Bitcoin ETF during the first quarter as the price declined about 12%.
At end of 2024, the Wisconsin board held more than six million shares in BlackRock’s %iSharesBitcoinTrust (NASDAQ: $IBIT), a position valued at around $350 million U.S.
That stake is now gone, according to the Investment Board’s latest 13-F regulatory filing.
The sale happened less than a year after Wisconsin became an early institutional adopter of the newly approved Bitcoin ETFs.
In late 2024, the Wisconsin Investment Board doubled its exposure to Bitcoin by raising its IBIT holdings from 2.9 million shares to six million. However, the board’s managers now appear to have had a change of heart.
However, the investment board added indirect exposure to Bitcoin during Q1 via %Strategy (NASDAQ: $MSTR) shares. In the first quarter, it added 26,571 MSTR shares worth $10.5 million U.S.
Established in 1951, the Wisconsin Investment Board manages over $160 billion U.S. in assets, serving Wisconsin state employees through the Wisconsin Retirement System.
Bitcoin has risen 25% this year to trade at $103,500 U.S.
