Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan becomes second public pension to write off crypto bet
BNN Bloomberg
For the second time this year a major Canadian public pension is writing down to zero a bet on cryptocurrency as the risky market sours.
The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan said this week it will write off its US$95-million investment in FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed last week, following a move by the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec to write off its US$150-million investment in Celsius Network in August.
The investments, while providing potential exposure to an emerging asset class, point to the wider risks pension funds have taken on as part of a hunt for returns, said Malcolm Hamilton, a pension expert and senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute.
"My perception is they have very dramatically increased the risk profile of the portfolio with the passage of time," he said, noting that in the 1990s funds were much more focused on government bonds.
