Michigan State pension fund accumulates Grayscale’s ETH ETFs

Michigan State acquired shares from two Ethereum ETFs offered by Grayscale to become the first recorded State Pension Fund Ethereum ETFs purchase.

The State of Michigan became a top five holder of Grayscale’s spot Ethereum according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

Michigan now holds almost half a million ETH shares

The Michigan Form 13F to the SEC disclosed that the state has accumulated Grayscale’s ETH and ETHE products amounting to $10 million. The state of Michigan holds 460,000 shares of ETHE worth about $10 million and about 460,000 shares of the asset manager’s Ethereum Mini Trust valued at $1.1 million as of September 30.

Michigan now holds more shares in ETH ETFs than in its spot Bitcoin said Bloomberg ETF expert Eric Balchunas.

The state’s pension fund did not only buy Ether ETFs but spent $3 million more on ETH ETFs than on Bitcoin ETFs, splashing out $10 million on the former and $7 million on the latter. The investment in ETH ETFs comes as the Bitcoin price outperforms its peers.

Analysts have said this is a win for ETH which it desperately needs. The State of Michigan is no stranger to cryptocurrency ETFs after it bought $6.6 million in Bitcoin ETFs from ARK 21Shares according to the SEC filing of July 2024. Michigan at the time was the second confirmed pension fund investment in the spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Not only did Michigan's pension buy Ether ETFs but they bought more then they did of bitcoin ETFs, $10m vs $7m, this despite btc being up a ton and ether in the gutter. Pretty big win for ether which could use one. https://t.co/0E6O6pKK8S

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 4, 2024

US states show approval of cryptocurrency

Many US jurisdictions have gone public on their ETF holdings since the SEC approval of the BTC ETFs at the beginning of the year. The state of Wisconsin Investment Board and Florida are holding about $800 million according to a CryptoSlate report.

ETFs of Bitcoin and Ethereum have been on the market for months with Bitcoin funds being the biggest winners in the crypto investment space. Only $10 billion has been invested in Ethereum ETFs whilst, over $70 billion is held in BTC.

The market of institutional investors has responded well to ETFs of Bitcoin and ETH, with traditional finance firms investing about $13 billion in Bitcoin ETF shares in 2024 alone.

The Michigan State investment comes as investors have sunk money into funds tracking Bitcoin, which saw the ETFs on a mini rally as investors begin to bet on a return of Donald Trump to the White House. Such an expectation has according to data, seen the wild price swings in the world’s largest cryptocurrency during the election week.

In Japan, a group of Japanese entities notified investors that they are in discussion to allow for ETFs for cryptocurrencies to focus on major tokens such as Bitcoin and Ether, according to a Bloomberg report. This is because Japan as a country is contemplating whether to follow the US regulations to permit the instruments.

According to reports in Japan, the move is needed because the large market value and stable track record of those cryptocurrencies make them suitable for investors to build up assets over the medium to long term. The group of firms also called for a review of taxation systems including separation of tax on income earned, according to the Bloomberg report.