Pension funds got burned by the Bitcoin proxy.
By Maxime Laurent · 2026-02-05 09:13
Pension funds got burned by the Bitcoin proxy.
US public pensions bet on Strategy — and now sit on hundreds of millions in unrealized losses.
This is one of those stories that quietly says a lot about this cycle. 11 US state pension funds bought shares of Strategy as a proxy for $BTC exposure. Today, 10 of them are down around -60%, with unrealized losses above $337M. Over the last six months alone, MSTR is down 67%, dragged by Bitcoin’s drawdown.
On paper, it made sense. No custody headaches, no private keys, just a listed company with massive $BTC exposure. In reality, they bought leveraged Bitcoin with corporate risk on top. When markets turn, that combo bites harder than spot.
What’s uncomfortable here is the mismatch. Pension funds want stability, predictability, slow compounding. Strategy is the opposite: volatility squared, conviction-driven, binary. Great on the way up. Brutal on the way down.
This doesn’t mean the thesis is dead. It means timing matters — especially when you’re managing retirements, not trading a screen. TradFi learning, again, that crypto proxies amplify everything. Même la douleur. 😬
#bitcoin #crypto #strategy #mstr #pensions #institutions #risk #markets
US public pensions bet on Strategy — and now sit on hundreds of millions in unrealized losses.
This is one of those stories that quietly says a lot about this cycle. 11 US state pension funds bought shares of Strategy as a proxy for $BTC exposure. Today, 10 of them are down around -60%, with unrealized losses above $337M. Over the last six months alone, MSTR is down 67%, dragged by Bitcoin’s drawdown.
On paper, it made sense. No custody headaches, no private keys, just a listed company with massive $BTC exposure. In reality, they bought leveraged Bitcoin with corporate risk on top. When markets turn, that combo bites harder than spot.
What’s uncomfortable here is the mismatch. Pension funds want stability, predictability, slow compounding. Strategy is the opposite: volatility squared, conviction-driven, binary. Great on the way up. Brutal on the way down.
This doesn’t mean the thesis is dead. It means timing matters — especially when you’re managing retirements, not trading a screen. TradFi learning, again, that crypto proxies amplify everything. Même la douleur. 😬
#bitcoin #crypto #strategy #mstr #pensions #institutions #risk #markets
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and not financial advice.