South Korea’s National Pension Service Invested $20M in Coinbase Shares in Q3

South Korea’s national pension fund invested almost $20 million in Coinbase shares in Q3 2023, turning a 40% profit, according to reports in local media.

Citing a recent U.S. SEC filing, local publication News1 reported that South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) invested nearly ₩26 billion ($19.92 million) in Coinbase shares, purchasing 282,673 COIN shares at an average price of $70.5.

Coinbase shares currently trade at $98.15, up almost 40% from the NPS’s average purchase price.

Per News1, the NPS, which holds over $750 billion in assets under management as of June 2023, has a policy of not directly investing in crypto assets; crypto stocks are widely considered a proxy for firms that wish to gain exposure to crypto prices without investing in them directly.

Coinbase reported a third-quarter loss of $2.2 million in 2023, posting better-than-expected financial results for the quarter; a year earlier it reported losses of $545 million for the quarter.

Asset managers including BlackRock have tapped Coinbase as a custodian for their spot Bitcoin ETF applications, with widespread optimism around the potential approval of a Bitcoin ETF helping to propel Bitcoin’s price to almost $38,000 in recent days.

The crypto exchange has also benefited from the growth of its layer-2 network Base, which has hit $590 million in total value locked (TVL), per L2Beat.