Houston Firefighter’s Pension Fund Bought $25M Worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum

The Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF) has hopped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon by making a $25 million investment in BTC and ETH. The allocation became possible through a partnership with New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG).

• The October 21st press release outlined the partnership between the two organizations, reading that NYDIG facilitated the investment through one of its regulated, audited, and insured funds.
• It became the first such allocation from a public pension plan in the US. According to Bloomberg, the total investment was worth $25 million. However, the report didn’t specify what portion went into bitcoin and what part in ether.

• “We are excited to take this first step forward into the world of digital assets. The investment expresses our belief in the disruptive potential of distributed ledger technology for the development and democratization of value accumulation through disintermediation.” – commented HFRRF’s CIO – Ajit Singh.

• Being one of the largest pension organizations in Texas, HFRRF’s benefactors include more than 6,600 active and retired firefighters and survivors of firefighters.
• While the HFRRF might be the first US pension fund to accumulate BTC (or ETH), it’s not the first conservative US-based organization to do so.
• MassMutual, a giant insurance company with nearly $300 billion investment accounts, made its initial step in December 2020 by buying $100 million worth of bitcoin.
• Later on, the institution also partnered up with NYDIG to enable some of its clients access to the primary cryptocurrency.