Cryptocurrency may soon become part of Florida’s State Pension Fund investment plan. Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis has urged the State Board of Administration (SBA) to invest in Bitcoin. The SBA chief recently wrote on October 29 in a letter to SBA Executive Director Chris Spencer that Bitcoin can be a diversification tool and a potential hedge against future risks in the state pension fund.
Deriving it as ‘digital gold,’ Patronis stated that due to the decentralization of Cryptocurrency, it would be the best County down investment for retirement. He stressed that the main objective of managers of pension funds is to ‘achieve maximum investment return’, also noting that BTC may positively impact the fund’s stability. In his letter, he pointed to other states like Michigan and Wisconsin that have recently started using Bitcoin and other digital assets in their pension funds, arguing that Florida also benefits from it.
Florida CFO Advocates Bitcoin as Pension Investment Option
“This is where the potential of investing in a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin becomes particularly compelling,” Patronis said, illustrating the benefits of owning digital currency as an investment tool due to the low correlation of BTC price movement to the overall markets. He also associated this plan with some moves by Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, to regulate CBDCs in a way that Patronis described as the opposite of the Bitcoin system since it is decentralized.
There’s no telling what the future of #cryptocurrency will be, but FL must stay ahead of the curve on getting the best returns for Floridians. Today, I sent a letter to @FloridaSBA requesting a report on digital currencies. #BTC #Bitcoin
➡️ Read more: https://t.co/4JBL6WBtq1
— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) October 29, 2024
Patronis has suggested a more formal beginning by having the SBA write a comprehensive report on the “potential and risks as well as possibilities” of investing in cryptocurrencies for state retirement funds. This report will be appended to the legislative schedule before the next legislative session and offer valuable information on how cryptocurrency investments should be framed for state pension funds.
Further, he endorsed the creation of a “Digital Currency Investment Pilot Programme” as part of the Future Growth Fund or Florida Growth Fund in the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund, which is directed by the state to invest in high-growth Florida-based funds. Now, actually, the Florida Growth Fund is allowed up to 1.5% of this trust, which was around $998 million, to fund high-growth assets in 2022/23.
Some states across the United States have recently taken steps toward entering the crypto market through pension funds. In July 2024, the Snyder administration’s Michigan Retirement System invested $6.6 million into ARK 21Shares’ ARKB a Bitcoin ETF and another $99 million Bitcoin investment with BlackRock’s IBIT ETF. At the same time, it has emerged that the Wisconsin pension fund invested nearly $170 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Grayscale GBTC in May 2024.
Should the SBA consider Patronis’s grant application, Florida may join the growing list of states seeking ways to enhance pension fund returns through digital assets.
