Nationwide Japanese commercial enterprise pension funds plan to invest in cryptocurrencies to diversify exchange rate risk

BlockBeats News, June 22 — Approximately 1,200 small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan's National Business Enterprise Pension Fund (located in Okayama City) plan to start investing in cryptocurrencies within the 2026 fiscal year. There are already some cases of Japanese companies investing in crypto assets, but direct participation of domestic pension funds in crypto investments remains relatively rare.

The fund plans to allocate about 1% of its total assets to cryptocurrencies and will indirectly invest through passive funds managed by large hedge funds that include various crypto assets.

In terms of asset allocation, for the 2025 fiscal year, the structure is: 80% Japanese yen, 15% US dollars, and 5% other currencies. In the 2026 fiscal year, it plans to adjust to: 70% Japanese yen, add 10% in developed country currencies, and allocate the remaining 5% to emerging market currencies, gold, and crypto assets.

The main purpose of this adjustment is to diversify exchange rate risk. Akiyo Kikuchi, executive director of the fund, stated that the status of the US dollar as the global benchmark currency may be weakening, so they decided to reduce their dollar holdings. He also pointed out that Bitcoin has almost zero correlation with the US dollar index, making it a tool for hedging currency devaluation risk and enhancing the portfolio's inflation resistance.