Harvard buys Ethereum for the first time and dumps Bitcoin

Harvard has adjusted its investments in crypto funds. The prestigious university fund reduced its Bitcoin (BTC) fund position, while at the same time investing for the first time in a fund that tracks the price of Ethereum (ETH). New documents reveal hundreds of millions of dollars in digital assets.

Harvard Reduces BTC Exposure and Buys Ethereum

Harvard reduced its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (iBIT) by 21 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to a quarterly report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The fund sold more than 1.4 million shares in iBIT, representing a decrease in value of $177 million. Yet Bitcoin remains Harvard’s largest investment, with a remaining value of $265.8 million.

It is striking that the university fund took a position for the first time in the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), also from BlackRock. Harvard bought 3.87 million shares of this, with a total value of $86.8 million.

Harvard’s combined exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum amounts to $352.6 million. Crypto therefore forms a substantial part of the total $2.08 billion in publicly reported shares in the fund’s portfolio.

Harvard takes position during troubled market

The change in the crypto portfolio took place at the end of 2025, during a period when the Bitcoin price began a sharp decline. BTC reached an all-time high of over $126,000 in October, but ultimately closed the year below $89,000.

Since then, the digital currency has continued to decline. At the beginning of this month, BTC even briefly dipped below $60,000. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is around $68,000.

It remains to be seen whether the university has made a good deal with this. Ethereum closed the year around $3,000, but is now trading around $2,000.

Harvard, by the way, first started investing in Bitcoin in the summer of 2025. Then the university fund bought $116 million worth of BTC through BlackRock’s fund. A major expansion followed later that year, increasing the position by another 237 percent.

Now Harvard appears to be shifting its strategy towards more diversification, with Ethereum as a new addition to the portfolio.