Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop has announced his plans to invest a portion of the city’s pension fund into Bitcoin ETFs. This move, according to Fulop, is a strategic investment in the potential of blockchain and cryptocurrency. He believes that this new investment strategy will be comparable to the 2% allocation made by the Wisconsin Pension Fund.
Fulop’s decision aligns Jersey City with the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which has already reported exposure to spot Bitcoin ETFs issued by Grayscale and BlackRock. This move comes after the SEC’s approval in January for listing and trading spot Bitcoin ETFs on US exchanges.
It is worth noting that publicly-run pension funds have been slow to adopt this strategy, with only Wisconsin and Jersey City currently considering crypto ETFs. Major financial institutions like Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase have made minimal investments in spot Bitcoin ETFs, indicating a cautious approach to this emerging asset class.
Interestingly, Mayor Fulop did not mention any plans to invest in spot Ether ETFs, which began trading in the US recently. This decision could be a strategic move to focus solely on Bitcoin ETFs for now.
This initiative by Mayor Fulop marks a significant step for Jersey City and could potentially set a precedent for other municipalities to explore similar investments in the cryptocurrency space. It will be interesting to see how this investment strategy unfolds and whether it proves to be a successful venture for the city’s pension fund. Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.