Crypto investments are still prominent in Harvard’s endowment, as filings show that the university has purchased Ethereum. The Ivy League school bought about $87 million in BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission released on Friday. The purchase coincided with a decision by Harvard sell 21% of its holdings of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). The value of the sold Bitcoin amounted to around $72 million based on an end-of-year closing price for IBIT of $49.65 per share.
The transactions, which were disclosed in regulatory filings cited by multiple news outlets, come as the crypto sector is in a prolonged downturn.
Eric Balchunas, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence said the sales come as a welcome bit of good news for the crypto industry.
“It’s a good sign for issuers if they can sell to Harvard, and an even better sign if Harvard doesn’t flinch during a nasty drawdown,” he said.
The university still has more cash invested in Bitcoin ETFs than it does in any other stock, including major tech stocks like Alphabet and Microsoft. While Harvard has over $350 million invested in crypto ETFs, this constitutes less than 1% of its $57 billion endowment.
Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum have plummeted recently. The former is down roughly 47% since its all-time high in October to its current price of about $67,000, and the latter is down roughly 58% during that time to its current price of about $1,975.
When Bitcoin was at its price peak, Harvard owned nearly half a billion dollars in the major cryptocurrency. That number has essentially been cut in half, as Bitcoin has sunk in value and as the university has trimmed its stake in the Bitcoin ETF.
Harvard is not the only university to be investing in crypto ETFs. Other elite universities, like Dartmouth, Brown, and Emory, have also disclosed their stakes in Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
