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The Wisconsin Investment Board made history as the first US state pension to hold a spot Bitcoin ETF, and by year-end 2025 its GBTC position stood at $340 million. Since then, six more systems have joined it on the record: CalPERS, Arizona State Retirement System, Michigan State Retirement, New York State Teachers, Ohio STRS, and Texas Teachers have all confirmed Bitcoin ETF positions of their own.
But that's only half the story…
- Direct ETF ownership is new. Wisconsin's move only dates to early 2024, and most peer systems still haven't followed.
- Indirect exposure is old. Most state pension systems got their first taste of digital assets years earlier, through LP commitments to venture firms like Lightspeed, General Catalyst, and Sequoia, whose portfolios carried crypto-adjacent companies and protocols.
- The gap between the two groups is wide. A handful of early movers are visible and documented. Most of the trillions in public pension capital hasn't moved yet.
In this article, we'll walk through the 10 state pension funds leading on digital assets, drawing on Dakota's Crypto & Digital Assets: From Speculation to Allocation report for the confirmed-position data, what's actually disclosed about their exposure, whether it's coming through direct ETF ownership or the venture LP trail, and where each one sits relative to its peers. By the end, you'll know which systems are already reachable and which ones are still watching from the sidelines.
The Two Paths Pensions Took to Digital Asset Exposure
Most state pension systems arrived at digital assets through the back door. LP commitments to generalist VC firms whose portfolios carried crypto-adjacent companies and protocols gave systems indirect exposure years before any of them owned a Bitcoin ETF outright. Wisconsin's GBTC position represents the next phase of that story, direct, disclosed, and quarter-over-quarter trackable, but it's still the exception rather than the rule. The gap between the early movers below and the broader pension universe remains wide.
The 10 State Pension Funds to Know
1. CalPERS
$637.1 billion AUM | Sacramento, CA | CIO: Stephen Gilmore
CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the country, closing its 2025-26 fiscal year at $637.1 billion after a 14.8% return, its best year since 2014. The fund's board has been publicly split on direct Bitcoin exposure, with board candidates sharply divided during a recent forum even as CalPERS maintains substantial indirect exposure through its equity stake in Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy). Separately, a 2026 industry analysis reported that CalPERS allocated roughly 1% of assets, about $500 million, to Bitcoin in Q1 2026, making it one of the more consequential recent entries on this list if that allocation holds.
2. CalSTRS
$390.6 billion AUM | West Sacramento, CA | CIO: Scott Chan
CalSTRS is the world's largest educator-only pension fund, with Scott Chan overseeing a $390.6 billion portfolio as of March 31, 2026. Chan previously ran the University of California's global equities portfolio before joining CalSTRS, giving him a cross-system view of how UC and CalSTRS have each approached alternative and digital asset exposure.
3. Texas Teachers (TRS)
$211.6 billion AUM | Austin, TX | CIO: Jase Auby
Texas Teachers has one of the more established venture LP trails on this list: TRS committed $20 million to CoinFund Ventures, a $300 million early-stage fund targeting web3 companies, back in 2022, well ahead of spot ETF approval. That early venture relationship is part of what makes the system's more recent confirmed Bitcoin ETF position notable, it isn't a system encountering digital assets for the first time.
4. UC Investments (UC Regents)
~$190 billion AUM | Oakland, CA | CIO: Jagdeep Singh Bachher
UC Investments oversees the University of California's combined retirement, endowment, and working capital pools under CIO Jagdeep Singh Bachher. The office's scale and its historically active approach to alternatives make it a system worth watching as digital asset allocation policy develops across the UC system's various pools.
Dakota Marketplace tracks public pension funds with confirmed digital asset positions across direct ETF holdings and venture LP relationships. Filter by AUM, confirmed holdings, and investment team contacts to prioritize your outreach. Book a demo to see the full public pension coverage.
5. Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)
~$156 billion AUM | Madison, WI
Wisconsin is the pioneer on this list. SWIB disclosed a Bitcoin ETF position within the first quarter spot ETFs were trading, and by early 2025 its IBIT stake alone had grown to roughly $321 million. SWIB fully exited that IBIT position in Q1 2025, but its exposure didn't disappear, by year-end 2025 the fund held $340 million in GBTC. That shift between products, rather than a retreat from the asset class, is the more accurate read on Wisconsin's strategy: an active, actively managed position rather than a buy-and-hold bet.
6. MassPRIM
$123.3 billion AUM | Boston, MA | CIO: Michael G. Trotsky
MassPRIM manages the Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund on behalf of Massachusetts state employees and teachers. Trotsky, PRIM's longtime Executive Director and CIO, has been recognized on multiple industry CIO lists, and PRIM's overall approach has emphasized cost control and manager selection discipline over rapid entry into new asset classes.
7. Ohio STRS
$104.1 billion AUM | Columbus, OH | CIO: Aaron DiCenzo
Ohio STRS is coming off a period of governance turnover, with Aaron DiCenzo named permanent CIO in December 2025 after a nationwide search. New leadership at a system of this size is worth tracking, since investment policy and manager relationships often see fresh scrutiny in the first year of a new CIO's tenure.
8. Michigan State Retirement
$79 billion AUM | Lansing, MI
Michigan's state pension has been one of the more active movers on direct ETF exposure, tripling its ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) position to 300,000 shares, worth roughly $11.3 million, during Q2 2025. The position is small relative to the fund's total assets, but the direction of travel, tripling in a single quarter, says more than the dollar figure does. Michigan also holds a stable position in Grayscale's Ethereum Trust (ETHE), giving it multi-asset digital exposure beyond Bitcoin alone.
9. Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS)
~$50 billion AUM | Phoenix, AZ | CIO: Michael Viteri
Arizona's path to this list started legislatively: a 2024 state Senate resolution encouraged ASRS and the state's Public Safety Personnel Retirement System to study the feasibility of digital asset ETFs. That study mandate is part of what makes Arizona's subsequent confirmed Bitcoin ETF position notable, it followed a formal policy review rather than an ad hoc allocation decision.
10. New York State Teachers (NYSTRS)
$49.2 billion AUM | Albany, NY
NYSTRS rounds out the list with a confirmed Bitcoin ETF position, joining the other systems above in moving beyond the venture LP trail into direct, disclosed ownership. As with several systems on this list, the position size hasn't been broken out separately from the fund's broader 13F holdings, but its presence on the confirmed list matters more than its current size.
Start Reaching the Systems That Haven't Moved Yet
State pension funds represent one of the most compelling long-term opportunities in digital asset fundraising precisely because so few have moved. The early movers above are visible and documented. The peer systems that haven't followed Wisconsin's lead yet control trillions in assets, and they're watching the same 13F disclosures, the same regulatory calendar, and the same peer behavior that will eventually move them off the sidelines. Fund managers who build relationships in this segment now are positioning ahead of a capital wave that hasn't fully arrived.
Dakota Marketplace tracks public pension funds with confirmed digital asset positions across direct ETF holdings and venture LP relationships. Filter by AUM, confirmed holdings, and investment team contacts to prioritize your outreach. Book a demo to see the full public pension coverage.
