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 via exchange-traded funds, according to a Thursday social media post from Mayor Steven Fulop.

While it's not likely to be a gigantic sum, the decision is another symbolic win for cryptocurrency on the road toward wider adoption. The move follows a Wisconsin pension making a similar decision earlier this year.

Read more: As a Pension Embraces Bitcoin, Hope Grows for Cryptocurrency's Long-Term Prospects Even Among Conservative Pros

Fulop, who has been the mayor of Jersey City since 2013, took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the forthcoming investment, writing: “Not my normal subject matter in a post but I’ll share anyway – the question on whether [c]rypto/Bitcoin is here to stay is largely over [and] crypto/Bitcoin won.”

Fulop, a Democrat, has thrown his hat into the ring for New Jersey’s 2025 gubernatorial election. Incumbent Governor Phil Murphy, also a Democrat, has already served two terms and is ineligible for reelection.

Not my normal subject matter in a post but I’ll share anyway - the question on whether Crypto/Bitcoin is here to stay is largely over + crypto/Bitcoin won. The #JerseyCity pension fund is in process of updating paperwork to the SEC to allocate % of the fund to Bitcoin ETFs… https://t.co/5iNEqRqHGM

— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) July 25, 2024

Fulop added that the city’s pension fund, the Employees Retirement System of Jersey City, 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. According to Fulop’s tweet, the investment is expected to be completed “by end of the summer.”

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

“I’ve been a long time believer (through ups/downs) in crypto but [b]roadly, beyond crypto [I] do believe blockchain is amongst the most important new technology innovations since the internet,” Fulop said.

Interest in bitcoin from public pension funds is growing slowly but surely.

Wisconsin’s public pension plan – the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which has roughly $156 billion in assets under management – is the biggest pension plan to dive into crypto so far, with a $160 million investment into spot bitcoin ETFs earlier this year. Some small pension funds like the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund, which has about $5 billion in assets under management, have been invested in crypto for several years.

The pensions of Fairfax County, Virginia, also invested in crypto exposure through VanEck's New Finance Income Fund, which became a creditor to crypto firm Genesis as it filed for bankruptcy last year.

Outside of the U.S., public pension plans including Japan’s $1.4 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund, the largest pension plan in the world, put out a request for information on bitcoin investments earlier this year.

“I’m sure eventually it will be more common,” Fulop said of pension funds allocating to crypto in his tweet.

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