Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world's largest pension fund, is looking at Bitcoin as a potential diversification tool.
On March 19, GPIF officially announced the development of a new long-term investment policy in response to "significant changes in the economy and society and rapid technological advances."
In response to the new challenges, GPIF is launching a five-year research plan to explore innovative methods of investment diversification, with a particular focus on sustainability and risk management.
As part of the plan, GPIF has requested data on various potential investment diversification tools, including information on assets the company considers "illiquid" that it does not own. Such assets include cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, precious metals such as gold and other assets, the announcement reads.
GPIF's new announcement is a request for information and does not guarantee that the company will expand into new assets such as Bitcoin in the future. Instead, the company will consider whether to conduct future research based on the data it collects.
Founded in 2006 by the Japanese government, GPIF focuses primarily on investing in core infrastructure funds that invest in assets essential to social and economic activities. The company is now diversifying its investments into traditional assets such as domestic and foreign stocks and bonds, as well as alternative assets such as infrastructure and real estate.
In its 2022 annual report, GPIF stressed that diversification is the company's core investment strategy, stating:
"Our basic investment strategy is to diversify by asset class, region and time frame. Although market prices may fluctuate in the short term, GPIF will take full advantage of our long-term investment horizon to achieve investment returns in a more stable and efficient manner [...]."
GPIF's total assets under management at the end of December 2023 stood at 225 trillion Japanese yen ($1.54 trillion), making it the largest pension fund in the world.
While GPIF is just beginning to think about potentially adding Bitcoin to its portfolio, some global pension funds have already adopted Bitcoin-linked assets. In November 2023. South Korea's National Pension Fund announced the purchase of more than 280,000 shares of U.S.-based Coinbase.
