Korean Investment Giant KIC May Invest in Crypto Directly

• KIC will consider direct crypto investment when the industry secures legal stability.
• The KIC invested KRW 4.2 billion in MicroStrategy.
• KIC’s MicroStrategy option is an investment diversification strategy.

Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) president Park Il-young has said his firm would consider investing in virtual assets as soon as the industry secures legal stability. Il-young made the statement during a South Korean National Assembly audit. He clarified that his corporation’s KRW 4.2 billion (approximately $3 million) investment in MicroStrategy was purely a strategic move.

Il-young’s statement about MicroStrategy during the National Assembly audit answered questions about his firm’s cryptocurrency investment. According to Il-young, KIC has a broader strategy for diversifying into companies with a benchmark index rather than a targeted investment in the firm itself.

KIC’s Indirect Bitcoin Investment

Reports indicate that KIC added MicroStrategy Inc. to its U.S. stock direct investment portfolio in the second quarter of this year. Market analysts interpreted this as an indirect investment in Bitcoin, given MicroStrategy’s significant Bitcoin holdings and its prominent role in the cryptocurrency space. KIC acquired 21,000 new MicroStrategy shares as an indirect way to invest in Bitcoin.

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KIC had already purchased Coinbase Global Inc. shares prior to the Q2 2024 MicroStrategy acquisition. Reports show the firm has held Coinbase shares since Q4 2021 and added 22,272 shares in Q2 2024. These actions support Il-young’s explanation that KIC is prioritizing strategic diversification over direct crypto investment.

National Pension Service Also Invests in MicroStrategy

Apart from the KIC, Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) is also reportedly making indirect Bitcoin investments. Like KIC, the NPS added MicroStrategy to its investment portfolio in Q2 2024 by purchasing 245,000 shares. The NPS also bought Coinbase shares in Q3 2023, though it sold 23,956 of those shares in Q2 of this year.

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Notably, the identified KIC and NPS investment strategies highlight how most companies and corporations gain exposure in crypto investments. Considering the existing regulatory uncertainties, most institutions opt for indirect investment models pending when the industry becomes substantially stable.