TL/DR Breakdown
- Korea Teacher’s Credit Union denies any plans of investing in a Bitcoin-backed ETF.
- It was rumoured that the firm will invest in Bitcoin ETFs by 2022.
- The rumoured investment would’ve further pushed the already soaring price of BTC.
The Korea Teacher’s Credit Union, which is the biggest mutual aid association in South Korea, has denied the rumors of investing in Bitcoin-backed Spot ETFs. The organization is responsible for more than $34 billion of assets and is one of the largest institutional investors in the country.
Earlier today, Twitter was filled with rumors that KTCU was going to invest in a Bitcoin-linked ETF by the first quarter of 2022. The rumor started from a report published by the Korea Economic Daily, a major local news portal.
As the speculations were turning into a viral frenzy on social media, KTCU came up with a public statement, denying any plans of associating with Bitcoin or any other crypto.
“The KTCU has never reviewed an investment in a bitcoin-related ETF, and will never have a plan to do so,” KTCU said in their official statement.
Why was this a big deal for Bitcoin ETFs?
KTCU, as a leading pension fund in South Korea, has always maintained its goal of ensuring the financial benefits and welfare of teachers. This is why the firm has typically avoided any risk-averse investment in the past. So, it would have been a big surprise to see KTCU invest in a Bitcoin ETF.
The earlier rumours suggested that KTCU would create a bitcoin-linked spot ETF to allocate its capital against. By doing this, KTCU would have become the first Korean asset management firm to launch a Bitcoin-linked ETF.
Last week, the first bitcoin ETF debuted in the US through the New York Stock Exchange, which immediately led to BTC recording a new all-time high. The first-ever Bitcoin ETF was approved in Canada back in February, which also led to a massive jump in the crypto market.
So, if rumours about the KTCU investment were true, we might have seen BTC reach that long-desired $100K mark sooner than expected.
It also would’ve been a welcome change for the overall crypto scenario in South Korea. The country has always kept a rather strict stance towards crypto. Although cryptocurrency exchanges have legal permission to operate in South Korea, they are part of a very closely monitored regulatory system. Last month the government reported that only 28 exchanges met the primary requirements for trading crypto in the country.
KTCU might not be investing in crypto any time soon, but surely we’ll a lot of bitcoin-linked EFT news surfacing on the headlines throughout this year, especially after ProShare’s blockbuster debut at the NYSE.
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