As per Thursday report Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF) the retirement fund for the city of Houston’s firefighters, declared about the purchase of $25 million Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The investment made through New York Digital Investment Group NYDIG which is also a bitcoin investment arm of Stone Ridge Asset Management.

In United States this will be the first time that a public pension plan has declared investment in digital assets. Though the investment done for a defined benefit plan portfolio but division between BTC and ETH is not yet disclosed. According to public records through Texas comptroller’s office as of June 2020, the pension fund holds total net assets over $ 4.1 billion. The fund’s chief investment officer Ajit Singh said “We have been studying this as an asset class to add to our investment portfolio for quite some time.

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He added: “This investment expresses our belief in the disruptive potential of distributed ledger technology for the development and democratization of value accumulation through disintermediation.”

In the press release Nate Conrad, NYDIG's global head of asset management said this investment "represents a watershed moment for bitcoin and its place in public pensions,"

About Houston's fund:

According to Houston's fund website, it handles retirement benefits for active, retired, survivors of firefighters and their families which counts around more than 6,600. Active firefighters have been contributing 9% of their salary to the fund since 2004. By state statue, the City of Houston need to contribute nearly double to that amount. As per the group, in common and private equity including domestic stocks, international stocks, bonds, cash and real estate over half of fund being used. Two years back two other firms in Virginia already made this move.

Indrani bose

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA