AMP has invested $27 million in bitcoin, becoming the first major superannuation fund to buy into an asset class that has previously been shunned by big fund managers in the $4 trillion retirement savings industry due to its volatility.

Other big funds on Thursday said they would not be following AMP’s lead into cryptocurrency, which Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock has previously said does not have a place in the Australian economy and which critics say does not belong in retirement portfolios because it does not produce yield.