The Virginia pension fund has a series of crypto investments dating back to 2019.
Fairfax County’s $6.8 billion pension fund, the Fairfax County Retirement Systems, has received approval to invest $70 million across two crypto yield farming funds, according to a Financial Times report.
The Virginia pension fund has invested $35 million each in Parataxis Capital’s digital yield fund and VanEck’s new finance income fund, both of which generate income for investors that provide liquidity to specific crypto entities, the report said.
Spearheaded by chief investment officer Katherine Molnar, the $1.8 billion Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System has made a series of crypto investments in the past alongside the Fairfax County Retirement Systems in the past, which includes a $50 million investment in Morgan Creek’s blockchain fund.
Molnar told the FT that potential returns in the yield farming sector are attractive as a lot of market participants have left the space.
Crypto lender Celsius imploded in June after using an array of techniques to generate returns for depositing customers, including yield farming, which the company once described as “high risk”.
This led to a period of market contagion that saw the likes of crypto broker Voyager Digital and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital perish, with both companies eventually filing for bankruptcy.
Canadian pension fund, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), invested $150 million in Celsius Network before the lender was forced to halt operations.
“A very small portion of our overall portfolio is invested in new technologies, which feature innovative, high-growth companies in riskier sectors that offer the potential for superior returns,” a CDPQ spokesperson told CoinDesk last week.
But Fairfax County remains unperturbed by the market downturn, with Molnar revealing that even in light of a 50% decline in prices, the fund’s original crypto investments are up by 350%, the FT report said.