Anantario Teachers' Pension Plan has decided to shift its investments away from cryptocurrencies.
The decision comes after OTPP, which manages more than $190 billion in assets, lost all of its $95 million investment in cryptocurrency exchange FTX following its bankruptcy in November 2022. OTPP was one of many backers of the now-defunct cryptocurrency invest exchange: once during the bull run in 2021, and again during the exchange's Series C funding round in early 2022.
OTPP CEO Jo Taylor said in an interview with the Financial Times that it would be unwise for pension funds to rush into another crypto investment. Taylor said they are still processing what happened on the exchange and will be more cautious before investing in emerging assets such as digital currencies. The pension fund is responsible for providing pensions to more than 330,000 teachers and school staff.
"We took the time to do a lot of due diligence on the business. It didn't turn out the way we thought it would. We didn't necessarily see all the information we needed to make a balanced decision." The pension fund is now looking to shift its investments into more traditional markets, such as real estate, and aims to gain exposure to the private credit sector. The investment plan provider wants to spend C$10 billion ($7.4 billion) over the next three years to build its portfolio in the aforementioned sectors.
In addition to OTPP, another prominent pension fund, the Savings Bank of Quebec (CDPQ), also lost its entire $154.7 million investment in struggling cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network. Celsius is one of many cryptocurrency lenders to collapse during the second202 quarter of cryptocurrency contagion. The dramatic collapse of FTX, the third largest cryptocurrency exchange at the time, had a huge impact on the entire ecosystem. Confidence among investors and venture capitalists in the crypto ecosystem hit lows, while crypto funding dried so up. Crypto ecosystem's narrative of mass adoption and attracted regulatory scrutiny from around the world.
