The $100 billion Ohio Teachers pension fund recently responded to a public record request from a former board member indicating it had no records in its possession regarding its cryptocurrency investments. Later, in response to a media inquiry regarding crypto investments identified in its portfolio, officials at the state pension responded, “No comment.” So much for transparency and public accountability.

In response to a Forbes article I wrote October 3rd discussing a recent CFA
CFA
Institute study indicating that most U.S. public pensions have investments in cryptocurrency, or in companies who have exposure to cryptocurrency, James McGreevy, a former board member of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio immediately sent a public records request to the pension asking if STRS Ohio had any cryptocurrency investments. He received the following partial response from the fund:

“STRS Ohio does not directly invest in cryptocurrency and has been unable to identify any public records in its possession which are responsive to your request.”

The two major takeaways here (neither of which are surprising given prevailing public pension practices):

First, the pension says that since it does not invest directly (emphasis added) in crypto, it does not have any records of such investing in its possession…