The unnamed pension scheme that last year became the first UK scheme to allocate directly to bitcoin has recorded a 56% gain in 12 months, according to its adviser.
Cartwright Pension Trusts helped the £50m pension scheme to establish 3% investment in the cryptocurrency, which it described as a “modest” allocation worth approximately £1.5m.
As of 22 October 2025, the first anniversary of the investment, Cartwright stated that the scheme had generated a 56% return. Sam Roberts, director of investment consulting at the firm, said this had “had a tangible impact on the funding level of the scheme, far exceeding the performance delivered by other major asset classes over the same period”.
“It’s still early days, and this remains a long-term investment, but one year on and we now have an objective example of what pension schemes could achieve if they’re willing to think differently.”
Sam Roberts, Cartwright
He explained: “The allocation was made just weeks before the US election result when Bitcoin was trading just above £51,000. Since then, it has reached several new all-time highs…
“It’s still early days, and this remains a long-term investment, but one year on and we now have an objective example of what pension schemes could achieve if they’re willing to think differently.
“It won’t be the right fit for every scheme, but it deserves to be part of the conversation. The fact that it’s now a legitimate option on the table is, in itself, a solid step forward.”
Between 22 October 2024 and 22 October 2025, the price of bitcoin rose from $67,382 to $107,595. Since then, it has fallen to $90,649 as of 9 December.
The US approach
While the unnamed pension scheme remains the only retirement fund in the UK to allocate to bitcoin, uptake in the US has been more widespread after regulators approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds in early 2024.
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board, one of the US’s largest pension schemes with $162bn (£121bn) in assets, recently cashed in on its bitcoin investment after less than a year, crystallising significant profits. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the pension scheme made approximately $200m from its allocation.
A recent study by David Krause, emeritus associate professor of finance at Marquette University in Wisconsin, US, found that such activity had increased institutional investor interest in cryptocurrencies, in particular bitcoin. The state of Texas recently invested $5m in the cryptocurrency as part of its treasury reserve holdings, according to multiple reports.
“For institutional investors, the critical question is not whether cryptocurrency offers theoretical benefits, but whether their specific governance frameworks and stakeholder environments permit capturing them.”
David Krause, Marquette University
Having examined how several US institutions had approached crypto investments, Krause explained that “institutional-specific factors, including governance structures, risk cultures, and peer effects, profoundly mediated investment decisions”.
Aggregate allocations across the investors in Krause’s analysis “generally remained below 1%” of overall portfolios, he said, which suggested that “cryptocurrency remains an experimental allocation for conservative [investors] rather than a core portfolio component”.
“The primary lesson is that fiduciary duty requires navigating governance, legitimacy, and stakeholder considerations while maintaining portfolio efficiency,” Krause concluded.
“For institutional investors, the critical question is not whether cryptocurrency offers theoretical benefits, but whether their specific governance frameworks and stakeholder environments permit capturing them. As this asset class matures, understanding these institutional mediating factors will be crucial for both practitioners and policymakers.”
