Industry insiders criticize UK pension fund's move to include Bitcoin in portfolio

A UK pension plan has been criticised for investing in Bitcoin. The £1.5 million investment came from its £50 million pool of assets and was designed to boost returns for employees. The move came before a sharp rise in Bitcoin prices following Trump's election victory. Several experts criticised the pension fund's decision, warning that it risks "gambling with the future of retirees". Colin Low, managing director of Kingsfleet, called the move "bizarre". He believes pension funds should prioritise long-term investments rather than speculative bets. Low noted the irony of a fund with such a long investment horizon betting its beneficiaries' assets on Bitcoin, which he believes lacks intrinsic value. Daniel Wiltshire, an actuary at Wiltshire Wealth, called the investment "extremely irresponsible". He stressed that pension trustees must manage assets carefully and urged the UK financial regulator to step in to protect members. However, there are also views in favour of the fund's approach. Chris Barry, director of Thomas Legal, said it was "sensible" to allocate less than 5% of funds to cryptocurrencies and urged UK pension funds to follow their US counterparts who have been investing in cryptocurrencies for years. (Sky News) Previously, British pension fund advisory firm Cartwright is urging institutional investors to allocate assets to Bitcoin and has successfully guided the country's first pension fund to allocate the asset. Glenn Cameron, head of digital assets at Cartwright, said the unnamed fund allocated 3% of its 50 million pounds ($65 million) to Bitcoin last month after "long consultations with the trustees of the plan, ESG, investment cases and security were discussed in detail."