Canada’s Biggest Pension fund CPPI dropped crypto investment plan amid unstable markets

Canadian pension fund CPP Investments which manages $388 billion for roughly 20 million Canadians, has given up its crypto investment plan after a year-long study of crypto investment opportunities, according to Reuters sources.

Early in 2021, CPPI’s Alpha Generation Lab, which studies emerging investment trends, formed a three-member team to research cryptocurrencies and blockchain businesses.

However, one of the sources said the CPPI ended assessing investment opportunities before July, but the exact time is unclear. Sources say CPPI redeployed its research team to other areas after abandoning its efforts.

Although the exact reasons behind the abandonment are unclear, CPPI CEO John Graham said it didn’t want to invest in crypto for fear of missing out. 

Commenting on the developments, popular crypto influencer Coin Bureau said the news “isn’t too shocking.”

Tbh, given the number of Ls Canadian pension funds have been taking in the crypto space, this isn’t too shocking.

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) December 7, 2022

A challenging period for Canadian pension funds with crypto investments

It was suggested that pension funds adopt Bitcoin as the asset has no liquidation risk, does not require leverage, and is a good alternative to risky bets. There is, however, no good news on the horizon for Canadian pension funds at present. 

CPPI’s recent move follows the write-off of investments by two of Canada’s largest pension funds after FTX and Celsius collapsed.

Earlier this year, the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Québec pension fund decided to write off its stake of $150 million in the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network.

Further, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan could end up losing up to $95 million in losses due to its investment in FTX, the now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. With 68 other investors, the $182.9 billion pension fund participated in a $420 million funding round last October for FTX Trading Ltd., which operates FTX.COM.