South Korea’s National Pension Service, the world’s third-largest pension fund by assets, purchased Coinbase shares worth $19.9 million. 

The NPS’ holdings report, submitted Wednesday to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, showed that the pension fund bought 282,673 shares of Coinbase Global in the third quarter of this year.

This is the first time that NPS — whose assets under management reached $755 billion at the end of June — has made any crypto-related security part of its investment portfolio, South Korean news outlet News1 reported.

The local media outlet reported that the national pension fund has a policy in place not to directly invest in crypto assets, although it once said in 2021 that the fund may invest in crypto exchanges.

Coinbase stock growth

Coinbase shares on Nasdaq closed up 6.58% at $98.15 on Wednesday, up 192.1% from $33.6 at the beginning of this year. 

Coinbase beat analysts' estimates after it reported $674.1 million in revenue in the third quarter of this year, up 14.2% year-on-year, according to its latest earnings report. It posted a net loss of $2 million for the quarter, compared to a loss of $545 million in the same period last year.

The potential approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. has excited crypto-curious investors, potentially leading to increased investment levels. The recent surge in the price of bitcoin appears to have also spurred on the growth in crypto-related stocks.

Bitcoin climbed 5.2% over the past 24 hours to trade at $37,446 around Thursday noon in Asia, according to CoinGecko data. The largest cryptocurrency in market cap has risen 126.3% so far this year.