Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought $100 million of bitcoin for its general investment account, the latest sign of mainstream acceptance for the upstart digital currency.
The investment is a tiny one for the Springfield, Mass.-based insurance company whose general investment account totaled nearly $235 billion as of Sept. 30. But it signifies further momentum for bitcoin, which has surged this fall. The price of a single bitcoin peaked in late November at $19,835, topping its 2017 high, and currently trades around $18,000, up 150% year-to-date.
MassMutual purchased the bitcoin through a New York-based fund management company called NYDIG, which has about $2.3 billion of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies under management. MassMutual also acquired a $5 million minority equity stake in NYDIG, which was formerly known as New York Digital Investment Group.
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The insurance company, founded in 1851, said the bitcoin investment was based on a broad strategy to take advantage of new opportunities while remaining diversified, “giving us measured yet meaningful exposure to a growing economic aspect of our increasingly digital world.”
Bitcoin, launched in January 2009, is a software program that operates across a network of linked but independent computers. It allows any two people to exchange value directly without the use of a middleman like a bank.
Ross Stevens,
the founder and executive chairman of NYDIG, said other return-hungry insurance companies have also bought bitcoin for their general accounts through his firm. Interest rates that are hovering near zero and a depreciating dollar have made bitcoin appear more attractive, he added.
Bitcoin’s rally has attracted momentum investors who pile into the market’s biggest winners and sell the losers, along with billionaire investors like
Paul Tudor Jones
and
Stanley Druckenmiller
who have publicly disclosed bitcoin investments in recent months.
Among other companies jumping into the market, payments firm Square Inc. bought $50 million of bitcoin in October for its corporate treasury. It has allowed users of its Cash App to buy and sell bitcoin since 2018.
Tech company
MicroStrategy Inc.
has become an even more vocal proponent of the digital currency, investing about $425 million this year. The company on Wednesday detailed an offering of up to $550 million in convertible bonds, with the intention of using the proceeds to buy bitcoin.
Despite the recent renewed interest, bitcoin remains a tiny market, which contributes to its notorious volatility. Its price fell as low as $3,867 in March, when global markets cratered, a drop of more than 60% from the beginning of 2020. Bitcoin also lost about 50% of its value in January 2018 after its spectacular 2017 run. It is currently down about 10% from its Nov. 30 record.
Write to Paul Vigna at paul.vigna@wsj.com
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