| What to Know: - Harvard trimmed IBIT by roughly 21%, initiated first ETHA position. - Move reflects diversification between Bitcoin's store-of-value and Ethereum infrastructure exposure. - Rising institutional comfort with ETFs and staking features influenced allocation shift. |
Harvard Management Company reduced its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) stake and initiated exposure to the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) in Q4 2025, according to CoinDesk (https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/02/16/harvard-cuts-bitcoin-exposure-by-20-adds-new-ether-position). The filing shows a roughly 21% trim to IBIT alongside the endowment’s first publicly disclosed position in a spot Ethereum ETF, with approximately 3.9 million ETHA shares added.
Filings do not disclose investment intent, but industry reporting points to common portfolio reasons. As reported by Decrypt (https://decrypt.co/358162/harvard-cuts-bitcoin-etf-stake-adds-ethereum-exposure-in-q4-filing), observers frame the shift as diversification across distinct digital-asset exposures, Bitcoin as a store-of-value proxy and Ethereum as smart-contract infrastructure, amid growing institutional comfort with the ETF wrapper and interest in staking-enabled features.
Based on data from The Block (https://www.theblock.co/post/389996/harvard-bitcoin-ether-etf-holdings/?utm_source=openai), Harvard cut IBIT holdings from about 6.81 million shares (~$442.8 million) to roughly 5.35 million shares (~$265.8 million), a reduction near 21%. The endowment also bought approximately 3.87 million ETHA shares valued around $86.8 million, bringing combined crypto-ETF exposure to about $352.6 million at quarter-end.
Academic voices continue to emphasize valuation uncertainty and risk in digital assets before drawing broad conclusions from a single quarter. “Bitcoin is risky and lacks intrinsic value,” said Andrew F. Siegel, emeritus professor of finance at the University of Washington.
The pattern is consistent with measured rebalancing rather than a definitive rotation from BTC to ETH. Filings capture point-in-time exposure and should not be interpreted as long-term policy without further disclosures.
At the time of this writing, Coinbase Global (COIN) traded near $166 in after-hours, based on data from Yahoo Finance. This is offered as contextual background on the public-market infrastructure underpinning crypto access.
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