 
 
Harvard Management Company, the entity resposible for overseesing the university’s $53 billion endowment fund, reported a multimillion-dollar investment in BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
In its latest quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Harvard disclosed holding 1.9 million shares of the iShares Bitcoin ETF as of June 30. The Bitcoin stake is valued at over $116 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), representing one of the largest known Bitcoin allocations by a U.S. university endowment.
The Ivy League university’s investment in IBIT is its fifth biggest investment, putting it just ahead of its investment in Google’s parent firm Alphabet. Harvard own roughly $114 million worth of Alphabet stock at the end of the fiscal period.
From SEC Approval To Adoption By Universities
IBIT is a spot BTC ETF that allows investors to gain exposure to the alpha crypto without the hassle of buying and holding the asset themselves. The iShares Bitcoin Trust is the most successful crypto-based ETF: The fund has pulled in more cash than any other crypto ETF and currently has a staggering $86 billion in assets under management.
A flood of capital has entered the crypto industry since the ETFs went live on Wall Street, with investors previously wary of storing digital assets in crypto wallets now able to easily buy a stake. The SEC finally greenlit the listing and trading of BlackRock’s IBIT and 10 other ETFs in January 2024 after a decade of rejections.
 
Brown University, which first acquired exposure to Bitcoin in May, raised its position in BlackRock’s IBIT and now holds $13 million worth of shares, a similar quarterly filing by the institution reveals.
These investments place the universities among an increasing list of institutional investors — from hedge funds to pension funds — including regulated BTC vehicles on their portfolios.
As ZyCrypto reported earlier this week, the State of Michigan Retirement System reported holding around $11.4 million worth of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF at the end of the second quarter.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/harvard-discloses-116-million-investment-in-blackrocks-ishares-bitcoin-etf/