$11 million holdings exposed! Michigan pension fund invests heavily in Ethereum ETF

The State of Michigan Retirement System disclosed over $11 million in spot Ethereum ETF exposure in its latest 13-F filing.

Thus, Michigan became the first state to invest in Ethereum and currently holds a large position in the Ethereum ETF. Previously, Michigan invested $7 million in the spot BTC ETF.

As of September 30, the Michigan Pension Fund held 460,000 shares of Grayscale Ethereum Fund (ETHE), equivalent to $10 million.

In addition, the fund also holds 460,000 shares of Grayscale’s Ethereum Mini Trust, equivalent to $1.1 million.

This makes the state pension the fourth and second largest holders of shares of these funds, respectively, Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, stressed.

13-F form shows that Michigan Pension Fund reported in its latest 13-F filing that it still holds shares of ARK21 Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB).

As BTC prices rise, its holdings are close to $7 million as of September 30.

It is worth noting that with the addition of the Ethereum ETF, the Treasury's exposure to ETH exceeded BTC as of the end of the third quarter.

Eric, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Balchunas said: "The state pension fund's investment is a 'quite a big win' for Ethereum."

"The fund decided to increase its investment in Ethereum despite Ethereum's lackluster annual price performance compared to BTC."

In addition to the Michigan Pension Fund, the Wisconsin Investment Board also reported a $164 million investment in BTC through ETFs. Politicians in Jersey City and Florida have also publicly mentioned adding BTC to their pension funds this year.

This is why Balchunas believes that "the Ethereum ETF gaining attention from the state pension fund is a big win."

When comparing the ETF inflows of Ethereum and BTC, the performance gap between them can also be seen. While BTC ETFs traded in the U.S. have seen annual inflows of $24.2 billion, Ethereum ETFs have seen negative net flows of nearly $480 million.

ETFStore CEO Nate Geraci had predicted in March that an Ethereum ETF would be “much bigger” than the market expected.

“Demand for a BTC ETF has also been severely underestimated, so the same could be true for an Ethereum ETF,” Geraci explained.

Geraci reiterated his view on Nov. 3, adding that it was “only a matter of time” before inflows into Ethereum ETFs traded in the U.S. began to pick up.