Jersey City's pension fund will invest in bitcoin ETFs

Steven Fulop, mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, announced Thursday that the city's pension fund will invest a percentage into Bitcoin BTC -1.56% ETFs. 

Jersey City's pension fund is updated paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Fulop wrote on the social media platform X, drawing parallels to the Wisconsin Pension Fund. The mayor estimates the process will be done by the end of the summer.

"The question on whether crypto and bitcoin is here to stay is largely over, and crypto and bitcoin won," Fulop wrote on X. "I’ve been a long time believer (through ups/downs) in crypto but broadly, beyond crypto, I do believe blockchain is amongst the most important new technology innovation since the internet."

Spot bitcoin ETF inflows reached $1.47 billion on July 24, with BlackRock's IBIT bringing in the majority share at $865.31 million, The Block's Data Dashboard shows.

Wisconsin pension fund

Fulop, a candidate seeking the Democratic nomination for New Jersey governor, drew parallels to the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which invests in pension and other trust funds.

In a mid-May 13F filing with the SEC, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board revealed that it had $100 million in shares of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust and nearly $64 million in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, in addition to shares in Coinbase, Block, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms and other crypto companies, The Block previously reported. 

"Normally you don't get these big fish institutions in the 13Fs for a year or so (when the ETF gets more liquidity) but as we've seen these are no ordinary launches. Good sign, expect more, as institutions tend to move in herds," Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said at the time.