Wisconsin SWIB sold all bitcoin ETFs after tripling its position to $321M

In early 2024, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), which manages roughly $155 billion in Wisconsin Retirement System assets, bought $163 million in spot bitcoin ETFs and fully exited by 2025. Professor David Krause calls the sequence a masterclass in disciplined fiduciary management.

A fiduciary mandate, not a crypto bet

SWIB manages assets of the Wisconsin Retirement System and other trust funds under Wisconsin statutes, notably chapter 25 and section 25.17(3)(a). The framework does not set any crypto-asset allocation target. It grants the board a fiduciary investment mandate that may include listed securities, such as spot bitcoin ETFs, provided they comply with diversification and risk-management rules.

With roughly $155–156 billion under management, SWIB ranks among the largest U.S. public pension funds. No Wisconsin law mandates exposure to bitcoin or crypto assets: the move was a discretionary choice, strictly bounded by fiduciary duty.

Position entry: $163M of bitcoin ETFs in Q1 2024

The trigger was the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval, on January 10, 2024, of several spot bitcoin ETFs — opening the door to institutional investors. Shortly after, SWIB disclosed its first positions via a 13F filing for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, released the following week.

According to the Q1 2024 13F data, SWIB held:

• 1,013,000 shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), valued at roughly $63.7 million;
• 2,450,400 shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBTC), valued at roughly $99.2 million.

The total stood at about $163 million, or under 0.11% of the fund’s roughly $155 billion in assets. A SWIB spokesperson declined to comment on the specific purchases, WPR reported.

Market context

Bitcoin had peaked near $66,000 in 2021, collapsed to roughly $16,000 in 2022, and then hit a new record near $71,000 in 2024. The entry window coincided with a structurally bullish market after the ETF approvals, which helped rapidly inflate the position’s value.

Peak at $321.5M in late 2024, then full unwind

In the fourth quarter of 2024 (ended December 31, 2024), SWIB’s 13F showed 6,060,351 shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust, valued at roughly $321.5 million. No line item appeared for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, suggesting an in-sector rotation or simply a valuation effect on the remaining sleeve.

The position represented about 0.2% of the total portfolio — nearly doubling its relative weight in less than a year. Subsequent 13F filings, for quarters ended March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2026, contain no textual match for « bitcoin » in the public search table, indicating the absence of residual positions.

SWIB bitcoin ETF trajectory table

A « masterclass in disciplined fiduciary management »

In an analysis published November 3, 2025, David Krause, emeritus professor of finance at Marquette University, argues that SWIB’s decision is neither a rejection of bitcoin nor a missed opportunity. He frames it as a textbook example of rigorous portfolio management, executed within the strict boundaries of the fiduciary mandate.

« The board’s move was not a morality tale or a missed opportunity. It was a masterclass in disciplined fiduciary management that most commentators completely misunderstood. »

David Krause, Emeritus Professor of Finance, Marquette University

The study, grounded in modern portfolio theory, finds that bitcoin’s correlation with core bonds is near zero (0.01). For a standard 60/40 portfolio, adding a 0.5% bitcoin allocation increases volatility only negligibly (from 10.65% to 10.66%), while returns rise from 28.05% to 28.56% and the Sharpe ratio improves from 1.18 to 1.21.

Krause warns that « the biggest risk to pension funds is not exploring new asset classes prudently. It is succumbing to dogmatic thinking. » He calls for transparency, proportionate governance, and fiduciary education so trustees and legislators can evaluate digital assets on their portfolio-level contribution — not on media-driven narratives.

Other voices from the industry

Mark Fedenia, associate professor of finance at the Wisconsin School of Business, called the move an « institutional validation for bitcoin and crypto investments, » likely to strengthen other pensions’ confidence. On the asset-management side, Manuel Nordeste of Fidelity Investments noted ongoing conversations with « real money » institutional investors and corporates, while Robert Mitchnick of BlackRock confirmed that sovereign wealth funds, pensions, and endowments are actively discussing how to approach crypto ETFs.

Conclusion: a precedent, not a blueprint

The SWIB episode shows how a large U.S. public pension fund can — without dedicated legislation or political directive — use its fiduciary mandate to enter, scale, and exit a spot bitcoin ETF exposure, relying solely on standard quarterly disclosure. The trade generated substantial gains while staying inside the diversification bounds set by the board.

For other public pensions, the precedent opens three scenarios: replicate the approach with a limited allocation (0.1% to 0.5%), stand aside until a broader regulatory framework emerges, or require a dedicated digital-asset governance layer beforehand. As of today, SWIB holds no public spot bitcoin ETF position, and no Wisconsin statute mandates such exposure.

Sources

• CryptoSlate — Wisconsin Public Investment Crypto ETF Exposure Regime
• WPR — Wisconsin pension fund bitcoin
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — David Krause opinion (Nov. 3, 2025)
• ai-cio.com — Wisconsin pension buys $160M in bitcoin ETF
• The Block — SWIB discloses $163M in spot bitcoin ETFs

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice. Do your own research (DYOR) before making any decision.