Harvard University’s investment arm disclosed a $101.4 million position in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund at the end of the second quarter, maintaining its exposure after aggressively reducing the investment during the previous two quarters. Harvard Management Company reported holding 3,044,612 shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust, or IBIT, as of June 30, according to its latest Form 13F filing.
The share count was unchanged from March 31, meaning Harvard neither added to nor reduced the position during Q2. Its dollar value nevertheless fell by roughly $15.6 million during the quarter as Bitcoin and IBIT declined. The decision marks a pause in what had become a substantial retreat from Bitcoin exposure. Harvard previously held 6.81 million IBIT shares at the end of September 2025 before cutting the position by 21% in Q4 and another 43% during the first quarter of 2026.
Harvard Stops Selling After Major Bitcoin Reduction
Harvard first disclosed a significant Bitcoin ETF position in the second quarter of 2025, when it held approximately 1.9 million IBIT shares valued at $116.7 million. The endowment subsequently more than tripled the position, reaching 6.81 million shares worth $442.9 million at the end of September. Bitcoin consequently became Harvard’s largest publicly disclosed U.S. security at the time. That expansion reversed as cryptocurrency markets weakened.
By December, Harvard had reduced its position to 5.35 million IBIT shares worth $265.8 million. It then cut another 43% during Q1, leaving 3.04 million shares. Harvard also completely exited the 3.87-million-share position it had established in BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust during Q4. The latest filing shows no further Bitcoin selling in Q2. At $101.4 million, Harvard’s remaining IBIT position represents less than 0.2% of its overall endowment, which was valued at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.
Institutional Investors Hold Through Bitcoin Decline
Harvard was not alone in maintaining Bitcoin ETF exposure. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company held its 14.72 million IBIT shares unchanged, worth approximately $490.1 million at quarter-end. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council similarly maintained 8.22 million shares worth $273.6 million. Together, the two sovereign investors retained approximately $764 million of IBIT despite losing roughly $118 million in market value during the quarter. Other institutional investors moved in different directions. JPMorgan increased its reported IBIT position from approximately 8.3 million to 10.4 million shares, while Morgan Stanley reduced its position by 4.5% to around 16.5 million shares. Tudor Investment Corporation added 109,446 shares, bringing its holding to 688,529 IBIT shares worth $22.9 million.
Harvard’s disclosure therefore does not represent a new $101 million Bitcoin purchase. Instead, it shows that one of the world’s largest university endowments stopped reducing an existing position after cutting its IBIT share count by more than half from its September peak. For institutional Bitcoin adoption, that distinction matters. Harvard has substantially reduced its exposure, but after two quarters of selling, it chose to hold its remaining 3.04 million shares through another difficult quarter for Bitcoin.
