Harvard University has sharply increased its exposure to bitcoin, nearly tripling its stake in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) during the third quarter. A new regulatory filing shows the university now holds more than 6.8 million shares of the spot bitcoin ETF, up from about 1.9 million shares in June.
The move marks a 257 percent jump and pushes IBIT to the top of Harvard’s declared U.S. equity holdings, ahead of large positions in Microsoft, Amazon, and the SPDR Gold Trust. As of the filing date, the IBIT stake was valued at around 442.8 million dollars, though its value has since eased to about 364.4 million dollars as bitcoin prices have pulled back. Even so, the position represents only a small fraction of Harvard’s 57 billion dollar endowment.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted on X that it is uncommon for major endowments to invest directly in ETFs tied to digital assets. He described Harvard’s position as a meaningful signal of institutional acceptance, while also pointing out that the investment accounts for roughly one percent of the endowment and ranks sixteenth among IBIT holders.
Just checked and yeah $IBIT is now Harvard's largest position in its 13F and its biggest position increase in Q3. It's super rare/difficult to get an endowment to bite on an ETF- esp a Harvard or Yale, it's as good a validation as an ETF can get. That said, half a billion is a… https://t.co/oTiSL29llB pic.twitter.com/yw0tRcD1ad
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 15, 2025
IBIT remains the largest spot bitcoin ETF by assets under management, though recent market weakness has brought about more than 500 million dollars in net outflows over the past week. Bitcoin is currently trading below the 100,000 dollar mark.
Harvard is not alone in expanding its crypto-linked investments. Emory University has also increased its stake in spot bitcoin ETFs, reporting more than one million shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC). The position represents a 91 percent increase from June. Emory also holds 4,450 shares of IBIT, unchanged since the previous filing. Altogether, the university’s combined bitcoin ETF positions are valued at about 42.9 million dollars.
Emory was the first U.S. university to publicly disclose holdings in a spot bitcoin ETF. At the time, accounting professor Matthew Lyle noted that using an established fund manager reduces the operational risks that come with handling digital assets directly.
Kimble Schiller
Beyond the United States, Al Warda Investments, a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi managed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, reported a significant jump in its IBIT holdings. The fund now owns more than 7.9 million shares, worth roughly 517.6 million dollars as of September 30. That represents a 230 percent increase from June.
Together, these disclosures highlight a growing trend: major institutions are inching further into digital asset markets, even as price swings remain a defining feature of the sector.
