Harvard endowment invests $116M into BlackRock Bitcoin ETF

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Though perchance not its archetypal foray into crypto, Harvard’s reported involvement successful BlackRock's Bitcoin exchange-traded money represented a important investment.

Harvard endowment invests $116M into BlackRock Bitcoin ETF

Harvard Management Company, the entity liable for managing the university’s $53-billion endowment fund, has reported a multimillion-dollar concern successful BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded money (ETF).

In a Friday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Harvard disclosed holding astir 1.9 cardinal shares of the iShares Bitcoin (BTC) ETF arsenic of June 30. The BTC vulnerability was valued astatine much than $116 million, making it the fund’s fifth-largest concern for the play aft Microsoft, Amazon, question exertion institution Booking Holdings, and Meta. 

Harvard reported its endowment money was $53.2 cardinal arsenic of June 30, 2024, making it the largest among US universities, up of Yale, Stanford and Princeton. 

“The endowment and its plus allocation is [sic] acceptable up to expect you’re gonna person immoderate volatile periods,” said Robert Kaplan, Martin Marshall prof of absorption signifier successful concern administration, successful a 2017 video explaining the endowment. 

Though the endowment appeared to chiefly absorption connected exertion institution investments successful 2025, Harvard reportedly considered buying shares successful crypto funds arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2018. Emory University became 1 of the archetypal important US endowments to study vulnerability to integer plus ETFs successful 2024, buying 2.7 cardinal shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust, worthy much than $15 cardinal astatine the time.

Related: Austin University to motorboat $5M Bitcoin money with 5-year HODL strategy: Report

Journey from SEC support to assemblage adoption

The SEC approved the listing and trading of the BlackRock BTC ETF and 10 different funds successful January 2024. The money has grown to person much than $86 cardinal successful nett assets arsenic of Thursday, according to BlackRock’s data.

On Tuesday, the SEC said it would increase the fig of allowed options contracts to 250,000 from 25,000 “for each ETFs with options,” which would see the iShares Bitcoin ETF. Some expect the determination to summation request for the crypto concern vehicle.

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