Harvard University has increased its holdings in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) by 257% from its position in June, with a reported 6,813,612 shares worth $442.9 million as of September 30. The allocation increased from 1,906,000 shares worth approximately $116 million earlier this year.
The same SEC filing revealed that Harvard has also doubled its stake in gold, growing its holdings in the GLD ETF by 99% to 661,391 shares worth $235 million.
Harvard University’s massive Bitcoin game
As one of the world’s largest and most closely watched university funds, Harvard’s asset management techniques often reveal emerging trends to other institutional investors. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas discussed the significance of this move: comment:
“It is extremely rare/difficult to get capital to bite on an ETF – especially a Harvard or Yale one, it is the best validation an ETF can get.”
The university’s IBIT allocation, which now ranks as Harvard’s top holding, comes amid historic volatility and a period of record outflows from Bitcoin ETFs.
On November 13, US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $869 million, their second-largest exit ever. This was further exacerbated by Bitcoin’s plunge below the $100,000 level and the broader market sell-off.
Yet the flows of November 14 tell a different story. Momentum in ETF outflows abruptly slowed to a near standstill, indicating institutional risk tolerance or strategic rebalancing.
Harvard’s letter of intent, which put nearly half a billion dollars in Bitcoin exposure at risk, landed in the middle of this turbulence and is raising analyst MacroScope’s expectations. called a ‘red meat question’. He posted:
“What does Harvard see coming? Together with the state investment activity… these are the types of important long-term flows happening at BTC despite short-term price movements.”
Other institutional allocators are also charging
Harvard isn’t the only heavyweight making big bets on Bitcoin through ETFs. Recent Quarters show an institutional convergence on BlackRock’s IBIT, with more than 1,300 funds holding the ETF and a formidable group of buyers including Millennium Management ($1.58 billion), Goldman Sachs ($1.44 billion), Brevan Howard ($1.39 billion) and Capula Management ($580 million).
Sovereign wealth funds and billionaire-led hedge funds, such as the Abu Dhabi entity ($500 million in IBIT), are also increasing their investments. The IBIT ETF has become the second largest Bitcoin holder in the world, behind only Satoshi Nakamoto.
What Harvard and other giants see coming
Why are these giants allocating capital while the retail industry is shaking and ETF outflows are making headlines? Harvard’s investment committee, like its peers, is likely reading several converging signals.
Long-term Bitcoin Supply Limitation: Because ETFs hold more than 7% of all Bitcoin, institutional buyers exert real influence on supply-demand dynamics.
Harvard’s doubled gold holding alongside Bitcoin also signals a broader inflation hedging or currency risk strategy, which is reflected by fund managers around the world allocating to hard assets.
The regulatory and market infrastructure is also reaching maturity. BlackRock’s ETF and similar instruments mark a normalization of access to cryptocurrencies for US-based institutions, lowering operational risk and compliance hurdles.
In the asset management playbook, Harvard’s actions reflect this belief rather than short-term market timing. When flows turn negative, only those with the longest time horizons (and the clearest mandates) buy in volume. As Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley noted:
“Your friend: thinking about selling their Bitcoin in the middle of one of the most bullish moments in the history of space. Harvard’s Endowment: doubling down.”
Harvard University’s endowments remain at the center of the digital asset debate, even as retail and momentum traders react to the latest price swings. The real question isn’t just what Harvard sees coming; what matters is whether the rest of the world is watching closely enough.
