【Japan Nationwide Corporate Employee Pension Fund Plans to Invest in Cryptocurrencies to Diversify Exchange Rate Risk】

Approximately 1,200 small and medium-sized enterprises have joined the Japan Nationwide Corporate Employee Pension Fund (located in Okayama City), which plans 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 to indirectly invest through passive funds managed by large hedge funds that include various crypto assets. In terms of asset allocation, its structure for the 2025 fiscal year 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. Executive Director Aiho Kikuchi stated that the position of the US dollar as the global benchmark currency may be weakening, so they decided to reduce US dollar holdings. He also pointed out that Bitcoin's correlation with the US dollar index is almost zero, making it a tool for hedging currency devaluation risk and enhancing the portfolio's anti-inflation capabilities.