Harvard Management Company, the entity responsible for managing the university’s $53 billion fund fund, reports millions of dollars in investments in BlackRock’s Bitcoin Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs).
In a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Harvard University announced that it owns approximately 1.9 million shares of iShares Bitcoin (BTC) ETF as of June 30th. The BTC exposure was valued at over $116 million, making it the fifth largest investment based on post-booking period for Microsoft, Amazon, Amazon and Travel Company Company Company Company.
As of June 30, 2024, Harvard reported that its fund was $53.2 billion, the largest of the US universities ahead of Yale, Stanford and Princeton.
“Donations and their asset allocations are set to expect (sic) you will have some unstable periods,” said Robert Kaplan, professor of management practices at Martin Marshall, in a 2017 video explaining the fund.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alc2u0ynfca
The donations appeared to focus primarily on tech companies’ investments in 2025, but Harvard reportedly considered buying cryptocurrency stakes as early as 2018. Emory University became one of the first significant US funds to report its exposure to digital asset ETFs in 2024, purchasing 2.7 million shares of the then Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust.
Related: Austin University launches a $5 million Bitcoin fund with a 5-year HODL strategy: Report
Journey from SEC approval to university adoption
The SEC approved a list and transaction of BlackRock BTC ETFs and 10 other funds in January 2024. The fund has now had a net worth of over $86 billion as of Thursday, according to BlackRock data.
On Tuesday, the SEC said it would increase the number of option contracts allowed from 25,000 to 250,000 from “all ETFs” and “all ETFs,” including the ISHARES BITCOIN ETFs. Some people are expected to increase demand for crypto-invest vehicles.
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