Success and benchmarking

In October 2024 the pension fund made a well-timed purchase, making it the first in the UK to do so...

Success and benchmarking

In October 2024 the UK’s first pension fund made its well-timed purchase of £1.5 million worth of bitcoin; representing a 3% allocation of its £50 million fund.

Minimal risk measure impact: The risk measure only increased by 2% in overall portfolio volatility making it a very strong risk/return trade-off.
Low risk to time horizon: At worst case, our scenarios estimate it would add on only three months to the original ten year timeline.
A much shorter time horizon: At best case, we estimate it will take off two entire years.
A tiny Bitcoin Network transaction fee: 0.000136% of the £2.04 of £1.5mil (exclusive of platform fees at a competitive rate)

Whilst this bitcoin allocation is a 10-year strategy and volatility is expected, we are thrilled to report bitcoin has reached several new all-time highs. The most recent was on 22 October 2025 and for our client, this represented a +56% increase from the initial investment. The Client will start to take profits once the investment has doubled in value.

Asset	% increase over the year (23-10-2024 to 22-10-2025)
3% bitcoin allocation	+56%
Gold price	+44%
Global Equities (FTSE AW)	+16%
UK 10 Year Gilts	+0%

In addition to the standard monitoring reports clients receive, we have introduced additional reporting to monitor the underlying health of the bitcoin network to provide extra reassurance.

^{Our approach ensures that schemes can benefit from the significant potential upside whilst limiting the potential downside. Integrating bitcoin into a pension scheme’s investment strategy is a bold step that reflects the forward-thinking nature of the trustees involved.}

Sam Roberts, Director of Investment Consulting at Cartwright