Morgan Creek Digital has scored what it says is probably the first investment in the crypto asset universe from a U.S. pension fund.

Two pension plans in Fairfax County, Virginia are anchor investors in a new $40 million venture-capital fund, according to a statement from the company. Other investors include an insurance company, a university endowment and a private foundation, said Morgan Creek Digital founder Anthony Pompliano, who declined to provide further details.

Many institutional investors, which crypto enthusiasts believe will be drawn to digital assets because of their volatility and potential out-sized gains, have been deterred by market manipulation and a lack of regulation. The Virginia pension funds join a handful of institutions to invest in the crypto world, including Yale University, the second-largest endowment in higher education that invested in a digital assets fund last year.

Fairfax County Retirement Systems manages three separate defined benefit plans, two of which invested in the Morgan Creek Digital fund, said Pompliano. Katherine Molnar, chief investment officer of one of the funds, said in a statement that blockchain technology, which was first developed to record the movement of Bitcoin, is an “emerging opportunity” that offers an “attractive asymmetric return profile.’’

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