Harvard Endowment Backs Bitcoin With $116M BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Stake

The Harvard Management Company has announced a $116 million investment in the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF from its $53 billion endowment fund.

Harvard Endowment Invests Millions in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF

In a Friday filing with the U.S. SEC, Harvard reported owning about 1.9 million shares of the iShares Bitcoin ETF as of June 30. The investment, worth over $116 million, was the fund’s fifth-largest holding after Microsoft, Amazon, Booking Holdings, and Meta.

The investment ranks Harvard’s ETFs as the fifth-largest holdings behind Microsoft, Amazon, Travel Technology Company Booking Holdings, and Meta. Following a reported $53.2 billion endowment fund, Harvard remains the largest among U.S. universities ahead of Yale, Stanford, and Princeton.

While Harvard’s endowment focused mainly on tech investments in 2025, reports suggest it considered investing in crypto funds as early as 2018. In 2024, Emory University became one of the first major U.S. endowments to disclose crypto ETF holdings, purchasing 2.7 million shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust, valued at over $15 million at the time.

The endowment and its asset allocation is also designed to handle periods of volatility,” said Robert Kaplan, Martin Marshall professor of management practice, in a 2017 video explaining the fund.

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Hits $86B After SEC Approval

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF has surged to over $86 billion in net assets after the SEC approved its listing. The SEC approved the listing and trading of the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF, along with 10 other funds, in January 2024.

In a move expected to boost investors’ demand in cryptocurrency, the SEC revealed that it will increase trading options for all ETFs with options, including the iShares Bitcoin ETF, from 25,000 to 250,000.