Whether you think Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are a scam or an economic revolution, you are becoming increasingly exposed to them as financial institutions incorporate them into payments and investments. This year, both Mastercard and Visa have announced plans to allow payments using cryptocurrencies, and the US’s oldest bank, BNY Mellon, has begun accepting cryptocurrencies for its asset management clients. And with the cryptocurrency platform Coinbase selling shares from today via a direct listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, companies whose value is linked to the cryptocurrency craze are increasingly likely to be included in the passive tracker funds that are bundled into most pensions. Bit by bit, everyone is being exposed to crypto.

The UK’s largest pension provider, the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) confirmed to the New Statesman that Coinbase would not be included in its Ethical Fund. However, Nest said that that if Coinbase is listed in the FTSE All-World Index, it could feature in its portfolio as part of a passive tracker fund. Nest said the amount invested would depend on the IPO pricing and how many shares were available.

Large numbers of pension funds would also use components that track the S&P 500 Index, to which Coinbase will probably not be admitted due to its share structure, but which already contains some exposure to cryptocurrency thanks to Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company by market cap, which has invested $1.5bn in Bitcoin and renamed its head of finance “master of coin”.

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