British Pension Fund Pioneers 3% Bitcoin Allocation, Urging Industry to Follow

British pension specialist Cartwright has made waves in the UK’s financial sector by guiding an unnamed pension fund to allocate 3% of its portfolio to Bitcoin (BTC). This marks the first time a UK pension scheme has directly invested in the leading cryptocurrency.

Cartwright’s director of investment consulting, Sam Roberts, hailed this as a “groundbreaking move” that the firm hopes will inspire other institutional investors in the UK to follow suit. He noted that many of their global peers have already embraced Bitcoin’s unique risk-return profile and diversification benefits.

The firm highlighted Bitcoin’s nearly 100,000% price appreciation since 2013 as a key factor behind the decision. Cartwright’s head of investment implementation, Steve Robinson, emphasized that the operational procedures were designed to maximize security while allowing profits to be captured quickly.

This development reflects the growing trend of institutional Bitcoin adoption globally, particularly since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. earlier this year. Industry giants like BlackRock and Fidelity have already amassed over 1 million BTC, worth around $67 billion at current prices, through their Bitcoin ETF offerings.

Cartwright drew an interesting parallel between the current Bitcoin adoption curve and the pension industry’s gradual embrace of equities in the 1970s. The firm expects a similar pattern, where initial hesitation gives way to Bitcoin becoming a standard part of institutional portfolio construction.