South Koreas National Pension Service (NPS) posted a record 27.22% investment return in the first half of 2026, driven almost entirely by a historic domestic stock rally tied to the AI boom.
Bitcoin, by contrast, played no meaningful role in that result, exposing a sharp divide between traditional and digital growth assets.
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AI, Not Crypto, Drove the Record Gains
The National Pension Service, the worlds third-largest pension fund, saw assets under management climb to 1,866 trillion won (~$1.35 trillion) by the end of June. That figure jumped from 1,458 trillion won (~$1.05 trillion) at the end of 2025, itself a record year.
Domestic equities delivered a staggering 107.37% return over the six-month period, the largest single contributor.
The KOSPI index more than doubled between January and June, fueled by heavy AI-related investment and blockbuster earnings from chipmakers. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix alone accounted for roughly 80% of the funds unrealized gains during the second quarter.
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Samsung and SK Hynixs AI Rally Drove 80% of NPS Gains. Source: BeInCrypto
The valuation of NPS stakes exceeding 5% in domestic companies surged by nearly 190 trillion won (~$137.4 billion) between April and June, the largest quarterly jump in the funds history.
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Foreign equities added 17.81%, also lifted by the AI cycle and strong Big Tech earnings, while alternative investments returned 9.6%. Domestic bonds fell 3% as interest rates climbed. NPS Chair Kim Sung-joo attributed the results to favorable trends across both domestic and international equity markets.
“While heightened volatility in the second half has caused some fluctuations in returns, we are still maintaining solid performance,” Kim said, cited by The Korea Herald.
Zero Bitcoin Allocation
The NPS holds no direct allocation to Bitcoin (BTC) or spot crypto ETFs. Its exposure runs only indirectly through equity stakes in companies like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and Coinbase, and the funds positions increased modestly during the second quarter.
That indirect exposure remains tiny next to the funds core holdings. The NPS holds roughly 614,000 Strategy shares, equivalent to an indirect exposure of around 1,800 BTC, a position worth tens of millions of dollars relative to the hundreds of billions invested in semiconductors and traditional technology.
Hence, artificial intelligence, not Bitcoin, powered the National Pension Services record first half.
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