Are Dutch pension funds warming to indirect crypto? Not entirely
The sharp rise in indirect crypto holdings among Dutch institutions is not caused by a sudden burst of investor enthusiasm but rather mostly by a rise in value of the underlying crypto assets (Unsplash/Traxer)
Indirect crypto exposure among Dutch companies, institutions and households has grown rapidly. Figures released by Dutch pensions regulator De Nederlandsche Bank show combined holdings rose from about $94mn in 2020 to $1.4bn by October 2025
The most exposure to crypto treasury assets is with Dutch pension funds which held $333mn in October 2025.
So, does this mean that Dutch institutional investors have cast aside their wariness of digital assets? The answer is no.
The sharp rise in indirect crypto holdings is not caused by a sudden burst of investor enthusiasm but rather mostly by a rise in value of the underlying crypto assets.
According to the DNB, about $52mn more crypto securities were sold than purchased in the Netherlands over the past five years. On a net basis, then, investors are selling up.
So who are the Dutch pension funds attracted to this asset class?
Speaking to several of the biggest Dutch asset managers, including $684bn APG, $303bn PGGM and $173bn Van Lanschot Kempen, revealed little.
APG told AOX they were not investing in digital currency assets on behalf of their clients, while PGGM said it does not invest in crypto treasury shares.
“We see little interest in crypto treasury shares with our clients,” added VLK.
(Crypto treasuries are listed companies whose balance sheets include cryptocurrencies, giving investors indirect exposure to digital assets through equity ownership within regulatory frameworks.)
Even consultants such as Aon Netherlands said they did not expect Dutch pension funds to be invested in crypto treasury shares as the asset class is not part of any big indices.
But a source at the DNB told AOX around 10 pension funds hold all recorded crypto treasury shares. They declined to disclose any further information on the pension funds in question.
A preliminary survey by AOX yielded few answers about who the mysterious crypto treasury shares investors were.
Where does that leave pension funds’ broader crypto-related appetite?
The Netherlands’ biggest pension fund, the $603bn ABP, had invested $88mn in Block Inc, $158mn in Coinbase Global and $1.8bn in Tencent Holdings as at September 30, 2025.
These are all companies heavily affiliated with crypto or crypto infrastructure.
A spokesperson for ABP explained to AOX: “ABP does not consider cryptocurrencies to be an asset class. They have no intrinsic value, generate no underlying cash flows and are characterised by high volatility and significant security risks.
“As a result, ABP does not allocate a separate portion of the portfolio to cryptocurrencies, as it does for asset classes such as equities, corporate bonds or real estate.
“Equities and corporate bonds are invested in line with index strategies. These indices comprise companies that meet ABP’s investment criteria. Indirect exposure to cryptocurrency price movements may arise through equities or bonds issued by companies active in this field.”
The remaining five biggest pension funds in the Netherlands hold similar shares in these companies.
Pension reforms in the Netherlands will allow funds to buy riskier assets and move away from strategies that have favoured long-term interest-rate hedging and matching assets very closely to liabilities.
But they remain bound by fiduciary and risk management obligations that sit uneasily with an asset class like crypto which is characterised by speculation and high volatility. What this means for investments in companies operating in the crypto sector is a question which may become increasingly pertinent.