On January 6, 2018, a man walked past a poster informing customers that they could use Bitcoin at this store in Tokyo.
Toru Yamanaka | AFP | Getty Images
Japan’s government pension fund said on Tuesday it was requesting information on “illiquid assets” such as Bitcoinas part of research into potential new investments.
Japan Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), The world’s largest retirement fund by assets under management In several different rankings, the company said it was looking for “basic information” on illiquid assets in addition to invested assets.
GPIF said it currently invests funds in domestic and foreign bonds and stocks, real estate, infrastructure and private equity. Now it is looking for information on other assets such as forests, farmland, gold and bitcoin, and how they can be included in retirement fund portfolios.
There is no indication that GPIF will invest in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
GPIF’s statement comes just days after Bitcoin hit an all-time high and the world’s largest cryptocurrency gained more than 130% in the last year.
The rally is driven in part by the launch of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States this year, which has attracted billions of dollars in inflows.
Retirement funds have been very cautious about getting involved in cryptocurrency investments due to their volatility. Still, some have tried, and South Korea’s pension fund, the National Pension Service, bought shares of Coinbase last year.
In Japan, the government proposed a law in February that, if passed, would allow investment funds to hold digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.
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