Harvard Management Company, which oversees the university’s $53.2 billion endowment, has disclosed a substantial investment in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF.
A Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed Harvard held around 1.9 million shares of the ETF as of June 30, valued at more than $116 million.
This makes it the endowment’s fifth-largest position for the period, behind Microsoft, Amazon, Booking Holdings, and Meta.
Largest University Endowment in the U.S.
As of June 2024, Harvard’s endowment remains the largest among U.S. universities, ahead of Yale, Stanford, and Princeton.
“The endowment and its asset allocation is set up to anticipate you’re gonna have some volatile periods,” Robert Kaplan, a professor at Harvard Business School, said in a 2017 video explaining the fund’s approach.
While the fund’s 2025 investments appear technology-heavy, Harvard reportedly began considering Crypto exposure as early as 2018.
In 2024, Emory University became one of the first major U.S. endowments to disclose a position in a crypto ETF, purchasing $15 million worth of Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust shares.
ETF Growth Since SEC Approval
The SEC approved the listing and trading of BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF — along with 10 others — in January 2024.
BlackRock’s product has since grown to hold more than $86 billion in net assets as of Thursday.
This week, the SEC also announced an increase in the limit on options contracts for ETFs with options, raising the cap from 25,000 to 250,000.
Market watchers say the move could drive additional demand for the iShares Bitcoin ETF and similar funds.