Japan's Zenkoku Business Corporate Pension Fund said it will start buying cryptocurrencies in fiscal 2026 (April 2026–March 2027), Nikkei reported on 18 Jun, in a rare move by a Japanese pension scheme into digital assets.
Japanese Pension Fund to Add Crypto, Citing Dollar Risk
19 June 2026 - 04:48 CEST
By Oihyun Kim
The Okayama-based fund, which covers 1,200 small and mid-sized enterprises, plans to allocate about 1.0% of its assets to a multi-coin passive fund managed by an unnamed hedge fund. It will cut yen exposure to 70% from 80%, hold dollar at 15% and open new 10% and 5.0% buckets for other developed-market currencies and alternatives, including crypto.
Reserve currency concern cited
The aim is currency diversification, executive investment officer Manatomo Kiguchi told Nikkei. The dollar's "character as a reserve currency could weaken," he said, pointing to yuan-settled oil trade during this year's Iran conflict and the US fiscal deficit.
Fraction of pension trillions
The allocation is small against Japan's pension universe. Combined Japanese pension assets total roughly $2.6tn, anchored by the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), Japan's public retirement scheme. GPIF lost its 20-year run as the world's largest pension fund to Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, a $1.77tn sovereign wealth vehicle, in September 2025, according to Willis Towers Watson's Thinking Ahead Institute. GPIF has not publicly flagged crypto for inclusion in its portfolio.
Public pension funds in the US states of Wisconsin and Michigan hold spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs, while US university endowments, including Harvard and Brown, have disclosed crypto exposure. A survey by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon, cited by Nikkei, found that 73% of global institutional investors plan to increase crypto allocations in 2026.
