Why Did Harvard Stop Cutting Its Bitcoin ETF Position?
Harvard University’s endowment kept its BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust holdings unchanged in the second quarter, ending two consecutive quarters of selling even as Bitcoin and the ETF declined in value.
Harvard Management Company reported 3,044,612 IBIT shares worth $101.4 million as of June 30, unchanged from the share count disclosed three months earlier. The position lost about $15.6 million in value during the quarter because of the decline in IBIT’s market price rather than additional selling.
The decision follows a sharp reduction in Harvard’s exposure. The endowment held 6,813,612 IBIT shares at the end of September 2025, cut that position 21% to 5,353,612 shares in the fourth quarter and reduced it another 43% to 3,044,612 shares during the first quarter of 2026.
Harvard also previously exited an $86.8 million position in BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF and reported no new Ethereum holdings in its latest filing.
Gold now represents a larger disclosed allocation than Bitcoin. Harvard held $149.5 million in the iShares Gold Trust and $21.7 million in the SPDR Gold Trust at the end of June, giving it $171.2 million in gold-related products compared with $101.4 million in IBIT.
Are Other Institutional Investors Holding Their Bitcoin Exposure?
Harvard was not alone in leaving its Bitcoin ETF share count unchanged. Abu Dhabi sovereign investors Mubadala Investment Company and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council also retained their IBIT positions throughout the quarter.
Mubadala reported 14,721,917 IBIT shares worth $490.1 million as of June 30, making the fund its second-largest disclosed 13F holding. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council held 8,218,712 shares worth $273.6 million, with IBIT remaining its largest reported position.
Together, the two institutions owned roughly 22.9 million IBIT shares valued at about $764 million. Their combined position declined approximately $118 million in value during the quarter without either fund reducing its share count.
Dartmouth College followed a similar approach, reporting no changes to its holdings across three crypto ETFs. The combined value of its Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana ETF positions declined from $14.6 million to $12.4 million because of weaker market prices.
Investor Takeaway
Harvard and the Abu Dhabi funds kept their IBIT share counts unchanged despite a steep Bitcoin downturn. The filings suggest some large institutional holders were willing to absorb valuation losses rather than continue reducing exposure during the second quarter.
Which Wall Street Firms Added Or Reduced IBIT?
Wall Street institutions showed a more mixed pattern. Morgan Stanley reported about 16.5 million IBIT shares worth $548.6 million as of June 30, down from 17.3 million shares three months earlier. Its share count fell 4.5%, while the value of the position declined 17.3% as lower Bitcoin prices compounded the reduction.
Morgan Stanley also disclosed 2.57 million shares worth $43.3 million in the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, which began trading in April.
JPMorgan moved in the opposite direction, increasing its reported IBIT position from about 8.3 million shares to roughly 10.4 million. The bank also more than quadrupled its position in BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF, with those shares worth approximately $14.3 million at quarter-end.
Tudor Investment Corporation, founded by Paul Tudor Jones, increased its IBIT stake by 109,446 shares to 688,529 shares worth $22.9 million. Its filing also showed IBIT put options with an underlying value of $23.8 million and call options worth $4.93 million, making the firm’s overall exposure more complex than its direct shareholding alone suggests.
What Do The Filings Say About Institutional Bitcoin Demand?
The latest filings show that institutional Bitcoin exposure remained substantial despite weak market conditions. Bitcoin was trading near $63,000, down almost 30% for the year and roughly 50% below its October 2025 peak above $126,000.
BlackRock’s IBIT nevertheless held about $47.35 billion in net assets as of Aug. 13, while its institutional ownership list continued to include universities, sovereign wealth funds, banks, hedge funds and asset managers.
Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas noted that IBIT’s 13F ownership list had grown to about 1,500 institutions even after Bitcoin’s large pullback. He also cautioned against treating every bank or trading-firm holding as a directional Bitcoin bet because 13F filings do not separate proprietary investments from client, hedging or inventory positions.
That limitation is important when interpreting the data. The filings disclose long positions in U.S.-listed securities and options at quarter-end but exclude short positions and most private assets. Harvard’s $4.26 billion disclosed securities portfolio, for example, represents only part of its roughly $57 billion endowment.
The stronger read-through therefore comes from changes in share counts rather than headline dollar values. Harvard and the Abu Dhabi funds stopped selling, Tudor added shares, JPMorgan increased its reported position and Morgan Stanley trimmed IBIT while adding exposure through its own Bitcoin fund. Together, the filings show institutional investors responding differently to the downturn rather than abandoning spot Bitcoin ETFs as a group.
