Jersey City to Invest in Bitcoin ETFs, the Latest Pension to Dive Into Crypto

The municipal pension plan of Jersey City, New Jersey, will soon invest in Bitcoin through exchange-traded funds, according to a social media post by Mayor Steven Fulop on Thursday.

While it’s unlikely to be a huge amount, the decision is a symbolic victory for the cryptocurrency on its way to wider adoption. The move comes after the Wisconsin pension fund made a similar decision earlier this year.

Read more: As a Pension Company Embraces Bitcoin, Hope Grows for Crypto’s Long-Term Prospects, Even Among Conservative Professionals

Fulop, who has been the mayor of Jersey City since 2013, took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the upcoming investment, writing: “This is not a topic I would normally cover in a post but I’m going to share it anyway — it’s the question of whether or not the investment will be made.” [c]rypto/Bitcoin is here to stay, it’s largely over [and] crypto/Bitcoin won.”

Fulop, a Democrat, has announced his candidacy for New Jersey’s 2025 gubernatorial election. Incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, has already served two terms and is not eligible for re-election.

Not a topic I would normally cover in a post but I’ll share it anyway – The question of whether crypto/Bitcoin is here to stay is largely over + crypto/Bitcoin has won. #JerseyCity pension fund in process of updating paperwork with SEC to allocate % of fund to Bitcoin ETFs… https://t.co/5iNEqRqHGM

— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) July 25, 2024

Fulop added that the city’s pension fund, the Jersey City Employees Retirement System, is currently in the process of updating paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allocate a percentage of the fund to bitcoin {{BTC}} ETFs. The investment is expected to be completed “by the end of the summer,” according to Fulop’s tweet.

Fulop did not say exactly how much of the pension funds’ assets under management would be allocated to bitcoin ETFs, but said it would be “similar” to the 2% allocation the Wisconsin state pension fund made to bitcoin ETFs earlier this year. Fulop did not specify which bitcoin ETF Jersey City was considering for its investment.

“I’ve been a long-time believer in crypto (throughout the ups/downs) but [b]over the road, beyond crypto [I] “I believe that blockchain is one of the most important new technology innovations since the internet,” Fulop said.

Public pension funds’ interest in Bitcoin is slowly but surely increasing.

The story continues

Wisconsin’s public pension plan — the Wisconsin Investment Board, which has about $156 billion in assets under management — is the largest pension plan to dive into crypto so far, investing $160 million in spot bitcoin ETFs earlier this year. Some smaller pension funds, such as the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Pension Fund, which has about $5 billion in assets under management, have been investing in crypto for several years.

Pension funds in Fairfax County, Virginia, have also invested in the cryptocurrency market through VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund, which became a creditor of cryptocurrency firm Genesis, which filed for bankruptcy last year.

Outside the U.S., public pension plans, including Japan’s $1.4 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund, the world’s largest pension plan, requested information on Bitcoin investments earlier this year.

“I’m sure it will eventually become more common,” Fulop tweeted regarding pension funds investing in cryptocurrencies.

The Jersey City Mayor’s Office did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment by publication time.