Harvard University is quietly making one of its most surprising investment moves in years — and it involves Bitcoin. The prestigious institution’s endowment fund has revealed a massive $443 million position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), signaling a shift that few expected from a university known for its conservative financial strategy.
According to Harvard’s latest 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the endowment held 6.8 million shares of IBIT as of Q3 2025. That holding makes IBIT Harvard’s largest disclosed U.S.-listed equity position, representing just over 20% of its reported public equity portfolio.
While the endowment’s total value exceeds $55 billion — meaning the IBIT stake is technically less than 1% of Harvard’s overall assets — the move is still drawing attention across Wall Street and the crypto industry. One major reason: big institutional investors rarely load up on ETFs, especially crypto-related ones. They traditionally prefer private equity, real estate, and long-term direct investments. So Harvard’s sizable leap into a spot Bitcoin ETF stands out as an unusually bold play for a university endowment.
ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that this position places Harvard among the top 20 largest holders of IBIT worldwide — a club largely dominated by hedge funds, asset managers, and professional trading firms.
What makes the timing even more interesting is that Harvard made this move while Bitcoin has been under pressure. The cryptocurrency has dropped more than 5% over the past week, trading around the $96,000 mark. Despite this dip, IBIT continues to dominate the market as the world’s largest spot Bitcoin ETF, backed by nearly $75 billion in net assets, according to data from SoSoValue.
The decision suggests that Harvard sees long-term value in Bitcoin exposure, even amid short-term volatility. Whether this signals a broader trend of universities stepping into crypto remains unclear, but it does send a strong message: one of the world’s most influential academic institutions is no longer sitting on the sidelines of digital assets.
For the crypto market, which has been searching for signs of renewed institutional confidence, Harvard’s move may be one of the strongest endorsements yet.
Also Read: US Banks Slowly Move Into Crypto as New Rules Take Shape
