Jersey City, New Jersey, is set to make a significant move in the cryptocurrency space by investing in bitcoin through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Mayor Steven Fulop announced this decision on social media, emphasizing the growing acceptance and permanence of cryptocurrency.
A Symbolic Win for Cryptocurrency
Although the investment sum isn’t expected to be large, the decision marks another symbolic victory for cryptocurrency adoption. This move follows a similar investment by a Wisconsin pension fund earlier this year. Fulop, who has been mayor since 2013 and is running for New Jersey governor in 2025, shared the news on X (formerly Twitter). He stated, “The question on whether [c]rypto/Bitcoin is here to stay is largely over [and] crypto/Bitcoin won.”
Steps Towards Implementation
The city’s pension fund, the Employees Retirement System of Jersey City, is updating its paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allocate a percentage of the fund to bitcoin ETFs. According to Fulop’s tweet, the investment should be finalized by the end of the summer.
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Fulop did not disclose the exact amount of the pension fund’s assets that will be allocated to bitcoin ETFs but indicated it would be similar to Wisconsin’s state pension fund, which allocated 2% to bitcoin ETFs earlier this year. The specific bitcoin ETF for Jersey City’s investment has not been revealed.
Growing Interest in Bitcoin
Fulop has long been a proponent of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. He believes that blockchain is one of the most significant technological innovations since the internet. Interest from public pension funds in bitcoin is slowly but surely increasing. Wisconsin’s public pension plan, with approximately $156 billion in assets, made a $160 million investment in spot bitcoin ETFs earlier this year. Other smaller funds, like the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund, have been involved in crypto for several years. Additionally, the pensions of Fairfax County, Virginia, have invested in crypto through VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund.
Interest in bitcoin is not limited to the U.S. Earlier this year, Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, the largest pension plan globally with $1.4 trillion in assets, issued a request for information on bitcoin investments.
Fulop expressed confidence that pension funds allocating to crypto will become more common in the future. As more public pension plans explore cryptocurrency investments, the landscape of digital asset adoption continues to evolve.
