Virginia Retirement Systems Invest in VanEck’s Crypto Lending Fund

Two retirement systems in Fairfax County, Virginia, distributed $35 million into VanEck’s cryptocurrency lending fund. The administrative region has experience in the digital asset industry since years ago its Police Department pension fund invested in blockchain technology and later displayed intentions to add crypto investment managers.

VanEck’s Lending Fund Attracted New Investors

As presented on its website, VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund aims to offer “attractive income to investors via short-term lending arrangements with digital asset entities.” The company claims its feature provides high-yield income exposure to cryptocurrencies and a simplified approach to the asset class.

According to a recent press release, two retirement systems in Virginia – the Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System and the Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System – are the latest investors in the product. Collectively, they transferred an initial tranche of $35 million.

It is worth mentioning that three years ago, Virginia’s Police Department invested a portion of its pension fund in bitcoin and blockchain technology in general. Despite the volatility in the sector, Director Jeff Weiler opined that all investments hide some risks, adding that dealing with crypto could bring significant earnings:

“However, as they would do with any investment, Fairfax’s investment team determined that the expected returns from this investment were in line with the level of risk incurred. This also played a big part in how much was invested.”

Earlier this year, the Fairfax County Police Department’s pension fund doubled down on its efforts by adding cryptocurrency investment managers.

VanEck and its Bitcoin ETF Ambitions

Speaking of VanEck, it is worth observing its primary target of launching a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States.

The global investment manager has sought the SEC’s approval multiple times over the years. Each time, though, the regulator rejected the filings citing investor protection or other obstacles.

Nevertheless, at the beginning of this month, VanEck filed another application with the agency, stating:

“The only consistent outcome would be approving spot Bitcoin ETPs on the basis that the Bitcoin futures market is also a regulated market of significant size as it relates to the Bitcoin spot market.”

The SEC, which recently rejected Grayscale’s application to launch a Bitcoin ETF in the States, has until March 2023 to decide whether VanEck’s product could operate on American soil.