Indiana House Bill Would Allow Public Employees to Invest Retirement Funds in Bitcoin ETFs

Combining Bitcoin and your retirement fund could soon become a reality for public employees in Indiana.

A bill making its way through the Indiana House would allow public employees' retirement funds to be invested in certain Bitcoin exchange traded funds.

The bill, authored by State Rep. Jack Teshka, (R) St. Joseph County, combines two ideas.

The first focuses on blockchain technology to potentially make the state government more efficient and secure for Hoosiers.

The second would allow state employees' retirement funds to be invested in Bitcoin ETFs.

“It shields a little bit of the risk, but there's also maybe a good option for pensioners who want to be a little aggressive. And so, the bill does not mandate that Impervas invest in these things, but it allows them to and so, I envisioned it as an option for some folks who might want to have that as a part of their portfolio,” said Teshka.

Teshka says Bitcoin, like any other asset, has inherent risk and could be seen as potentially unstable.

But he added that it gives pensioners options if they want to be more aggressive in their investments.

“It's become a much more popular thing to do, and a lot of folks see it as a hedge against inflation, right? It's a decentralized asset that's not tied to a lot of the traditional factors that put inflationary pressures on on our traditional sources of investments and so, you know, it could be attractive to some folks and so, again, it's really just putting it out there as an option,” said Teshka.

WSBT 22 also spoke with Rudi Bachmann, a professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame.

Bachmann said Bitcoin serves no actual purpose compared to stocks where you can expect dividend payments.

“It has no intrinsic value, if anything its societal value is negative because it's used for all kinds of illicit activities. And so, I don't think that the government in any shape or form should subsidize, allow, you know, funds that that are supposed to serve the greater good, namely retirement funds, be invested in Bitcoin,” said Bachmann.

Teshka said the bill is an eye into the future as Bitcoin only continues to grow in popularity.

Currently the bill has been passed by a house committee and will now go to the full house.