South Korea’s national pension fund buys $34M of MicroStrategy shares

The National Pension Service, South Korea’s national pension fund, has reported purchases of nearly $34 million in MicroStrategy shares.

NPS is South Korea’s largest public pension fund and the third-largest in the world with over $729 billion worth of assets.

Wu Blockchain shared the news via X:

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

Details filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission indicate the NPS acquired 245,500 of MicroStrategy shares at a total of $33.5 million. The filing relates to the fund’s investments in the quarter ending June 30, 2024.

According to news outlet Infomax, the National Pension Service’s investment in shares of the US-based MicroStrategy accounts for 0.04% of the fund’s total investment in US stocks.

Apart from MSTR, the fund also holds more than $51 million in Coinbase shares, $31.5 million in Roblox and over $61 million in shares of Block, Inc. The fund also holds shares of AI-chip powerhouse Nvidia, and tech giants Google and Microsoft.

MicroStrategy shares up 92% YTD

While the MicroStrategy stock has plummeted 20% as the crypto market struggles with choppy conditions. Despite falling from highs of $180 in mid-July to currently around $131, MSTR remains more than 92% up year-to-date.

MicroStrategy, as well as top crypto related companies such as Coinbase, are largely bullish amid growth and projections for Bitcoin. For Michael Saylor-led MicroStrategy, part of the success has come after adopting the strategy of adding BTC to its balance sheet.

MSTR has soared alongside Bitcoin since MicroStrategy first bought BTC in 2020, the latest surge coming amid Bitcoin’s push to reclaim $60k.

Saylor said in a recent post on X that MSTR has outperformed 499 of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500.

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 acquired an additional 12,222 BTC in Q2, 2024, adding more than $805 million in BTC to its haul. Currently, MicroStrategy holds 226,500 BTC worth over $13 billion.