State Pensioners Brace For Crypto HODL

Are government workers prepared to Hold On for Dear Life (HODL) as pensions gamble their retirement savings on crypto?

How wild will the state pension crypto ride become before the inevitable collapse? Prepare to Hold On for Dear Life!

On Monday, a bill was filed in North Carolina that calls for the State Treasurer to invest up to 10% of money from state funds and retirement systems into Bitcoin ETFs. With over $100 billion in assets, this means the state could gamble—and very possibly lose—more than $10 billion in worthless crypto.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett has repeatedly warned investors to steer clear of crypto, calling Bitcoin “probably rat poison squared.”

State Rep. Stephen Ross, co-sponsor of the NC bill, apparently thinks he knows more about investing that Buffett and is perfectly willing to gamble billions in state employees’ retirement savings, aka Other People’s Money. During an interview Ross reportedly stated that “allowing investments into digital assets will put the state in a stronger financial position.” Also “the state’s risk would be minimal as the money would only be invested in ETFs or exchange-traded funds.”

“… allowing investments into digital assets will put the state (North Carolina ) in a stronger financial position… the state’s risk will be minimal (emphasis added) as the money will only be invested in ETFs or exchange-traded funds.” - Rep. Stephen Ross

More than a dozen other states are entertaining investing public funds in digital assets, including Ohio, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Wyoming, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Montana, Maryland, and Kentucky.

In short, state pensions across the nation are poised to gamble—and very possibly lose—ten percent or more of the money they hold in trust for state employees on a worthless “asset” commonly referred to as cryptocurrency. Pension stakeholders, including workers and retirees whose retirement security is at risk—as well as taxpayers—need to understand what’s at stake. Educating the public about crypto risks is all-the-more necessary because state pension officials, known to Wall Street as the “dumbest investors in the room,” clearly have not done their homework. The 2025 State Pension Crypto craze is all about politics, and has nothing to do with prudent investing.

How wild will the crypto ride become before the inevitable collapse?

State workers should begin by understanding HODL, a term commonly used by crypto investors. HODL is, according to Investopedia, “a core tenet of many Bitcoin and crypto believers.” HODL originated from a typo of the word “holding” as “hodling” in a 2013 Bitcointalk online forum when a user posted a purportedly drunk, semi-coherent, typo-laden rant about his poor trading skills and determination to simply hold his Bitcoin from that point on. Within an hour, “HODL” became a meme. HODL is an acronym for “hold on for dear life.”

The prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile, but HODLers disregard even large price swings. They simply HODL. Will state pension stakeholders become HODLers?

“I don’t think most state employees and retirees ever envisioned, or ever will be comfortable with, gambling their retirement security on a so-called investment that cannot be valued,” says Ardis Watkins, Executive Director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina which has over 55,000 members and is the largest non-union public employee association in the United States.

Ardis Watkins, Executive Director, SEANC

Now is the time for state pension stakeholders to educate themselves on the unfathomable risks related to crypto investing and confront those promoting crypto for their retirement plans. The politicians proposing this radical departure from prudent investing don’t have a clue and are only looking out for themselves. HODL, indeed.