Quick Google shows Quebec Pension Fund managed circa ~$325B. They will invest across a range of asset classes and risk profiles.
Looks like they put around $200M into Celsius which is about 0.06% of their AUM.
Numbers might not be totally accurate but order of magnitude shows the scale of these funds and how they choose high risk to try and get some return for their beneficiaries.
(Note: I'm not condoning investment into Celsius/crypto in general; just making a point on the investment scale)
Arguably pension funds are best placed to take on (diversified) high risk investments. They have a long time horizon (20-40 years), and their members can't arbitrarily withdraw their funds.
If you've been sat in high quality government bonds for the last 15 years then you've basically made nothing, or even a loss, in real (inflation adjusted terms).
My pension fund is in 100% global equity. I've got no choice if I want to retire at a sensible age.
'Our investors can't get out' is an absolutely terrible justification for doing ultra high risk investments.
'We have a long-term horizon', which in this context can easily translate into 'by the time this blows up everyone responsible will have long left the company / vested their bonuses' is hardly better.
The only good justification for doing high risk investments is 'our investors know, they understand the risks and they want us to do this'.
A very large percentage of VC funds are funded by large assets managers, such as pension funds, state investment and sovereign wealth funds.
When you manage hundreds of billions you need to diversify your investments across asset classes and risk profiles. Putting 1% into high risk VC funds makes a lot of sense.
Looks like they put around $200M into Celsius which is about 0.06% of their AUM.
Numbers might not be totally accurate but order of magnitude shows the scale of these funds and how they choose high risk to try and get some return for their beneficiaries.
(Note: I'm not condoning investment into Celsius/crypto in general; just making a point on the investment scale)