South Korea NPS: MicroStrategy not Virtual Assets Investment

South Korea’s National Pension Service has revealed that it has invested in global crypto exchange Coinbase and IT (information technology) company MicroStrategy, but not for the purpose of investing in ‘virtual assets’.

According to the correspondence data received from the National Pension Service by People Power Party lawmaker Baek Jong-heon, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, “Virtual assets such as Bitcoin are not investment targets”.

As of March 2024, the National Pension Service held 280,000 shares of Coinbase stock and its market valuation was 100.9 billion Won. Meanwhile, its MicroStrategy’s stock holdings were 200 shares with a market valuation of 400 million Won.

Calling the investments unrelated to Bitcoin holdings, NPS said, that recent media outlets have called the investment an indirect investment, but the NPS has never purchased the company in question to invest in virtual currency.

Jong-heon also said that NPS is keen to invest in accordance with Article 4 (Fund Management Principles) of the Fund Management Guidelines and “If the Fund Management Committee discusses restrictions on investment in companies related to virtual currency, we will actively support it.”

Local media outlet has revealed that the South Korea’s NPS uses two methods for overseas stocks: index management, which manually follows the benchmark index MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International Index), and entrusted management, which entrusts investment in individual companies to a consignment manager. The stocks bought in Coinbase and MicroStrategy, were either automatically purchased as they were included in the benchmark index followed by the National Pension Service, or were purchased through consignment management.