Harvard Drops Ethereum Bet as Sovereign Funds Stack Bitcoin ETFs

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May 16 was the SEC deadline for institutional investment managers to file 13F disclosures covering their Q1 equity holdings.

The filings revealedhow sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, and major banks adjusted their crypto ETF positions between January and March.

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala raised its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) from 12,702,323 shares to 14,721,917 shares as of March 31. At current prices, that stake is worth close to $660 million.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), a Mubadala-affiliated entity, kept its IBIT positionflat at 8,218,712 shares, valued at $315.8 million as of March 31. The roughly $92 million drop in dollar value from the prior period reflects the ETF’s price decline during the quarter, not a reduction in shares held. A May 16 filing also transferred reporting responsibility for the position from Al Warda Investments to ADIC, though the beneficial owner did not change.

Harvard Cuts Bitcoin ETF Stake, Exits Ethereum

Harvard University cut its IBIT holdings by 43% during Q1, bringing its position to 3,044,612 shares worth roughly $117 million. The endowment had already trimmed its IBIT stake by 21% in Q4 2025. Harvard also fully exited its BlackRock spot Ethereum (ETH) ETF position, worth approximately $86.8 million, after initiating it only the prior quarter.

Taiwan Semiconductor now sits at the top of Harvard’s 13F portfolio. Alphabet, Microsoft, and the SPDR Gold Trust also rank ahead of IBIT in the endowment’s disclosed holdings.

Several other endowments held mostly steady. Dartmouth College maintained its 201,531-share IBIT position through Q1. It rotated its ETH ETF exposure from the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust into Grayscale’s Ethereum Staking ETF, keeping a 178,148-share stake unchanged. Dartmouth also disclosed a new 304,803-share position in the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (SOL), currently worth approximately $3.67 million. It is one of the first US endowments to publicly extend crypto ETF exposure beyond BTC and ETH.

Brown University kept its 212,500-share IBIT position unchanged. Emory University exited its 4,450-share IBIT stake while raising its Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust holding from just over 1 million shares to 1,354,148 shares.

Among traditional financial institutions, the Royal Bank of Canada expanded its direct IBIT holdings and increased its use of put and call options as a hedge. The Bank of Nova Scotia added 214,370 IBIT shares after exiting a prior position in American Bitcoin shares. Barclays disclosed a position of roughly 4.46 million IBIT spot shares alongside substantial put and call option exposure tied to the ETF.

Hong Kong-based Laurore reduced its IBIT stake from 8,786,279 shares to 6,846,279 shares during the period.

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