Harvard University's endowment cut its holdings of BlackRock's spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), by about 43 percent in the first quarter of this year and sold its entire holding of a spot ethereum ETF.

On May 17 (local time), blockchain outlet BeInCrypto reported that the reduction in Harvard's position was confirmed in a 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Harvard Management Company held 3,044,612 shares of IBIT as of March 31. The stake was valued at about $117 million. That was down 43 percent from the previous quarter.

Harvard first added about 1.9 million IBIT shares at around $117 million in mid-2025. In the third quarter of that year, it expanded the holding to about $443 million. It then cut the stake by 21 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025 and increased the scale of the reduction in the first quarter of this year.

It also sold all of its spot ethereum ETF holding. Harvard sold its entire stake in BlackRock's spot ethereum ETF, ETHA, worth $86.8 million. The stake had been newly added just one quarter earlier. ETHA posted steep declines in early 2026, and Harvard's investment in a spot ethereum ETF ended after one quarter.

After the adjustment, IBIT was no longer Harvard's largest publicly disclosed listed equity holding. The filing showed TSMC, Alphabet, Microsoft (MS) and SPDR Gold Trust now accounted for larger weights than IBIT.

This has led to an interpretation that Harvard did not fully reduce its cryptocurrency exposure, but rather adjusted its portfolio to raise the share of traditional assets again. Harvard still maintains about $117 million of exposure to a spot bitcoin ETF.

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala moved in the opposite direction. Mubadala increased its IBIT holding to 14,721,917 shares, valued at about $566 million. That was a 16 percent increase from 12,702,323 shares at the end of 2025. Mubadala has expanded its spot bitcoin ETF holdings each quarter since the fourth quarter of 2024.

The same 13F filing also showed a clear divergence in institutional responses. Jane Street cut its IBIT holding by 71 percent in the first quarter, and Fidelity's holdings of FBTC were reduced by 60 percent. Jane Street, however, meaningfully increased its holdings of ETHA and Fidelity's FETH. This can be interpreted as a tactical reallocation that shifted some exposure from bitcoin to ethereum.

Emory University sold its entire small IBIT position and consolidated its bitcoin exposure into the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust. JPMorgan increased its IBIT holdings by 174 percent over the same period, and Wells Fargo expanded its holdings of spot ethereum ETFs. This makes it hard to say institutional money moved in only one direction in the first quarter.

Market participants are now focused on the next filing. The 2026 second-quarter 13F filing, due to be disclosed in August, is expected to show whether Harvard further cuts its spot bitcoin ETF weighting, maintains current levels, or expands it again.

Harvard Endowment Exits Ethereum ETF and Cuts IBIT Stake by 43% Q1 2026 SEC 13F filings show that Harvard's endowment cut its IBIT position by about 43% to 3,044,612 shares, worth roughly $117 million, after already reducing the stake by 21% in Q4. It also fully exited its $86.8… pic.twitter.com/nXf4VI1HKe