Harvard endowment invests $116M into BlackRock Bitcoin ETF

Harvard Management Company, the entity responsible for managing the university’s $53-billion endowment fund, has reported a multimillion-dollar investment in BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

In a Friday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Harvarddisclosedholding about 1.9 million shares of the iShares BitcoinBTC$116,905BitcoinChange (24h)0.16%Market Cap$2.32TVolume (24h)$31.91BView MoreETF as of June 30. The BTC exposure was valued at more than $116 million, making it the fund’s fifth-largest investment for the period after Microsoft, Amazon, travel technology company Booking Holdings, and Meta.

Harvard reported its endowment fund was $53.2 billion as of June 30, 2024, making it the largest among US universities, ahead of Yale, Stanford and Princeton.

“The endowment and its asset allocation is [sic] set up to anticipate you’re gonna have some volatile periods,”saidRobert Kaplan, Martin Marshall professor of management practice in business administration, in a 2017 video explaining the endowment.

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Though the endowment appeared to primarily focus on technology company investments in 2025, Harvard reportedlyconsidered buying shares in crypto fundsas early as 2018. Emory University became one of the first significant US endowments to report exposure to digital asset ETFs in 2024,buying 2.7 million sharesof the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust, worth more than $15 million at the time.

Related:Austin University to launch $5M Bitcoin fund with 5-year HODL strategy: Report

Journey from SEC approval to university adoption

The SECapproved the listing and tradingof the BlackRock BTC ETF and 10 other funds in January 2024. The fund hasgrownto have more than $86 billion in net assets as of Thursday, according to BlackRock’s data.

On Tuesday, the SECsaid it would increasethe number of allowed options contracts to 250,000 from 25,000 “for all ETFs with options,” which would include the iShares Bitcoin ETF. Some expect the move to increase demand for the crypto investment vehicle.

Magazine:Bitcoin inheritances: A guide for heirs and the not-yet-dead

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