Harvard University’s endowment, managed by the Harvard Management Company, increased its investment in the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) by over 250% during the third quarter.
According to a regulatory filing on Friday:
- As of September 30, Harvard held over 6.8 million shares of IBIT, valued at $442.8 million.
- This represents a significant jump from its initial disclosure in August, when it held about 1.9 million shares worth $116.6 million.
This aggressive move made IBIT Harvard’s largest investment increase in Q3 and positioned the university as the 16th-largest holder of the ETF.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that an endowment buying an ETF is “super rare” and difficult to achieve, calling it “as good a validation as an ETF can get” for the fund. However, he pointed out that the investment still only represents about 1% of the total $57 billion endowment fund.
Other Portfolio Changes
In addition to the substantial crypto commitment, Harvard also:
- Nearly doubled its exposure to gold through the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) ETF, with its holding now valued at $235.1 million.
- Maintained large positions in major US technology companies (Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet).
- Purchased new positions in the buy-now, pay-later company Klarna ($16.8 million) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company ($59.1 million).
The filing comes as Bitcoin ETFs experienced net outflows of $1.11 billion in the trading week ending Friday, amid a dip in the price of Bitcoin below the $100,000 mark.
November 2025, Cryptoniteuae
