Jersey City Pension Plan to Invest in Bitcoin ETFs

The Jersey City, New Jersey municipal pension plan intends to enter the cryptocurrency space by purchasing bitcoin through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Mayor Steven Fulop disclosed this development on social media on Thursday.

Even while the investment may not be large, this action represents a significant advancement in the acceptance of cryptocurrencies on a larger scale. A Wisconsin pension fund made a similar choice earlier this year, indicating a trend among public pension plans.

Mayor Fulop, who has led Jersey City since 2013 and is a candidate for the 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election, shared the news on X (formerly Twitter). He stated, “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.”

Details of the Investment

The Employees Retirement System of Jersey City is in the process of updating paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allocate a portion of its fund to bitcoin ETFs. According to Fulop’s tweet, this investment is expected to be finalized by the end of the summer. While the exact allocation percentage was not disclosed, Fulop indicated it would be similar to the 2% allocation made by Wisconsin’s state pension fund earlier this year.

“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 added.

Public pension funds’ interest in bitcoin is gradually increasing. Wisconsin’s public pension plan, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which manages approximately $156 billion in assets, invested $160 million into spot bitcoin ETFs earlier this year. Other smaller pension funds, such as the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund, have also been involved in crypto investments for several years.

Additionally, the pensions of Fairfax County, Virginia, have invested in crypto through VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund. This fund became a creditor to the crypto firm Genesis during its bankruptcy filing last year.

Globally, public pension plans are showing interest as well. Japan’s $1.4 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund, the largest in the world, requested information on bitcoin investments earlier this year.

“I’m sure eventually it will be more common,” Fulop remarked on the trend of pension funds allocating to crypto.