Wisconsin Investment Board Doubles Stake in BlackRock Bitcoin ETF to 6M Shares
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) has significantly increased its investment in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), revealing a stake of over 6 million shares as of December 31, 2024. This is a notable jump from the 2.9 million shares held three months earlier, according to a 13F filing submitted on Friday.
At IBIT’s current price of $56.10 per share, Wisconsin’s investment is now valued at around $340 million. If the price of bitcoin continues to hold steady at approximately $98,000, the stake would be worth nearly $588 million.
In 2024, the SWIB became the first major state investment fund to publicly disclose bitcoin ETF purchases, initially acquiring 94,562 shares of IBIT along with some shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), though the latter were later sold.
Other large institutional investors, such as the State of Michigan Retirement System, have followed suit, revealing their own positions in bitcoin ETFs, including the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) and Grayscale’s bitcoin products.
Founded in 1951, SWIB manages over $156 billion in assets, including funds from the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) and the State Investment Fund (SIF). It oversees investments for state employees and other trust funds.
Today marks the deadline for institutional investors managing at least $100 million in assets to file quarterly holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings are eagerly anticipated as they provide insights into whether major traditional finance firms have been adding bitcoin ETFs to their portfolios following the asset’s launch last year.
