TLDR
- South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) purchased nearly $34 million worth of MicroStrategy shares in Q2 2024.
- NPS is the world’s third-largest pension fund with over $729 billion in assets.
- MicroStrategy holds 226,500 Bitcoin worth over $13 billion as of August 2024.
- NPS also holds over $51 million in Coinbase shares and investments in other tech companies.
- MicroStrategy’s stock is up 92% year-to-date despite recent market volatility.
South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), the country’s largest public pension fund and the third-largest globally, has made a significant investment in MicroStrategy, a company known for its large Bitcoin holdings.
According to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, NPS purchased 245,500 shares of MicroStrategy for approximately $33.5 million during the second quarter of 2024.
The NPS, which manages over $729 billion in assets, made this investment before MicroStrategy’s recent 10-for-1 stock split. The purchase price averaged $1,377.48 per share.
After the stock split, the total number of shares held by NPS increased to 245,000, valued at $32.32 million based on MicroStrategy’s closing price of $131.93 on August 15, 2024.
This investment by the South Korean pension fund can be seen as an indirect bet on Bitcoin. MicroStrategy, led by CEO Michael Saylor, is currently the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. As of August 2024, the company holds 226,500 Bitcoin, worth over $13 billion.
South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) disclosed that it bought 245,000 shares of MicroStrategy in the second quarter of this year, worth about $33.75 million. Previously, NPS bought 282,700 shares of Coinbase in the third quarter of last year. NPS manages $729.77 billion…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 16, 2024
The NPS investment in MicroStrategy represents 0.04% of the fund’s total U.S. stock investments. In addition to MicroStrategy, NPS has also invested in other cryptocurrency and technology-related companies.
The fund holds over $51 million in Coinbase shares, $31.5 million in Roblox, and more than $61 million in Block, Inc. shares. NPS also has investments in AI-chip manufacturer Nvidia and tech giants Google and Microsoft.
MicroStrategy’s stock performance has been strong in 2024, despite recent market volatility. While the stock has fallen 20% from its mid-July highs of $180 to around $131, it remains up more than 92% year-to-date. This growth aligns with the broader surge in Bitcoin’s value, which has been pushing towards the $60,000 mark.
Four years ago today, MicroStrategy adopted #Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset; since then $MSTR has outperformed 499 of 500 stocks in the S&P 500. pic.twitter.com/Db7GVeyc9a
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) August 11, 2024
The company’s strategy of adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet, which began in 2020, has contributed to its success. In the second quarter of 2024 alone, MicroStrategy acquired an additional 12,222 Bitcoin, worth more than $805 million.
Michael Saylor, the company’s CEO, recently stated that MicroStrategy has outperformed 499 of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500.
Despite MicroStrategy missing its revenue target for Q2, Wall Street broker Benchmark raised its price target on the company from $1,875 to $2,150 earlier this month. This increase reflects continued optimism about MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin-focused strategy.
The investment by South Korea’s National Pension Service in MicroStrategy represents a notable move by a major institutional investor into the cryptocurrency space, albeit indirectly.
As one of the world’s largest pension funds, NPS’s decision to allocate funds to a Bitcoin-holding company may signal growing acceptance of cryptocurrency-related investments among traditional financial institutions.
