Houston Pension Buys Crypto, an Asset ‘We Could Not Ignore’ (1)

The pension fund for Houston’s firefighters is tip-toeing into cryptocurrency investing.

The Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund, which has $5.5 billion of assets, said it invested $25 million in Bitcoin and Ether through NYDIG, a Bitcoin-focused subsidiary of asset manager Stone Ridge.

“I see this as another tool to manage my risk,” said Ajit Singh, the chief investment officer for fund. “It has a positive expected return and it manages my risk. It has a low correlation to every other asset class.”

State and local government pension funds are a powerful force in investing, overseeing more than ...