Democratic Party: "National Pension's Investment in Digital Asset Spot ETFs is an Inevitable Strategy"

Amidst the controversy over Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung's pledge to allow the National Pension to invest in digital assets, the Democratic Party stated that "investment in digital assets is a scientific strategy faithful to the principle of global diversified investment" and expressed its intention to accelerate the establishment of laws and systems for institutional investment.

On the 17th, Min Byung-deok, chairman of the Digital Asset Committee under the Democratic Party's election committee, said, "Criticism that the National Pension's digital asset investment pledge is an 'idea to ruin the country' stems from misunderstandings about traditional portfolio theory and the trends of global pension funds," and emphasized that "digital assets are an investment means that must inevitably be considered in terms of portfolio diversification."

He also emphasized that the National Pension is already indirectly investing in assets linked to digital assets. He explained that the National Pension is investing in global tech stocks such as BlackRock, which launched a Bitcoin spot ETF last year, Strategy, which invests most of its assets in Bitcoin, and Coinbase, the largest virtual asset exchange listed on Nasdaq.

The Digital Asset Committee said, "We partially agree with the criticism that it is undesirable for public funds like the National Pension to invest in high-risk assets," but added, "Global institutions and pension funds are already incorporating part of their portfolios into digital assets."

They further stated, "Digital assets are no longer experimental speculative assets. They have already entered institutional finance and have established themselves as an asset class that institutional investors can manage," emphasizing that "the pledge to allow the National Pension to invest in digital assets is a declaration to prepare properly and strategically incorporate them."

They added, "Ignoring digital assets due to emotional aversion will be a risk of falling behind in the global financial flow, losing monetary sovereignty, and missing growth opportunities for national assets," and said, "The Democratic Party will actively pursue related policies."