Michigan Pension Fund Buys $11M Worth Of Ethereum In ETH ETFs

Michigan Pension fund has bought $10 million worth of Ethereum through Grayscale’s ETFs. VanEck’s Head of Digital Assets Research, Matthew Sigel, made this revelation in an X post. Meanwhile, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted the significance of this purchase.

Michigan Pension Fund Purchases $10 Million Worth Of Ethereum

Matthew Sigel mentioned in an X post that the State of Michigan has bought $10 million worth of Ethereum through the ETH ETFs. He revealed that the pension fund had disclosed these ETH ETF holdings in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The filing revealed that the State of Michigan holds 460,000 shares in Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust ETF and another 460,000 shares in Grayscale’s Ethereum Mini Trust, amounting to over $11 million worth of ETH holdings.

Sigel revealed that these ETH holdings make the State of Michigan one of the top five holders of Grayscale’s ETH and ETHE ETFs. Their ETH purchase also makes them the first to invest in Ethereum ETFs since they launched in July.

It is worth mentioning that the Michigan Pension Fund is not new to the crypto space. Earlier in the year, the state’s pension fund bought $6.6 million worth of Bitcoin through Ark Invest’s BTC ETF.

This development also comes just days after Florida’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis called on pension funds in the state to consider crypto investments.

He also revealed that the state already holds $800 million in crypto investments and suggested that they could increase their exposure if Donald Trump becomes the next US president. Donald Trump recently vowed to end Kamala Harris’ war on Bitcoin and is considered the most preferred candidate because of his pro-crypto stance.

A “Big Win” For The Second Largest Crypto By Market Cap

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said this development was a big win for ETH, which could use one at the moment. He made this statement in relation to the fact that the Michigan Pension Fund holds more than $11 million worth of ETH compared to its $6 million BTC holdings.

Balchunas added that the state’s pension fund holds more ETH than BTC despite the Bitcoin price being up a ton while the Ethereum price is in the “gutter.” Indeed, the flagship crypto has been outperforming the second-largest crypto by market cap since the start of the year.

BTC boasts a 60% year-to-date (YTD) gain, while ETH is far behind with a meager 6% gain since the start of the year. The ETH/BTC trading pair recently hit its lowest level since April 2021, thanks to ETH’s underperformance against BTC.