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Bitcoin has garnered attention as one of the crucial rewarding stores of value lately, with institutional adoption reaching recent highs this yr. One such groundbreaking Bitcoin acquisition was made by Harvard University, arguably probably the most prestigious academic institution on this planet.
In early August, Harvard announced an investment portfolio that included $117 million in shares of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF as of the tip of the second quarter. According to their recent disclosure, the university’s BTC exposure nearly tripled within the last quarter.
BlackRock's IBIT becomes Harvard's largest investment
In its most up-to-date 13F filing, Harvard University disclosed that it owned 6,813,612 shares of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), valued at roughly $443 million, as of September 30.
This additional acquisition underscores the institution's expansive capital allocation strategy, which also resulted in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD)'s holdings growing to 661,391 shares (valued at roughly $235 million) within the third quarter of 2025.
Notably, Harvard's current holdings within the leading spot BTC ETF represent a 257% increase from the 1,906,000 shares reported in June. Currently, BlackRock's exchange-traded fund is the biggest single investment among the many university's reported holdings.
While the present IBIT position represents only a small portion of Harvard's $57 billion endowment, it is important enough to make the university the sixteenth largest IBIT holder. As previously mentioned, reports of institutional adoptions like these reinforce Bitcoin's credibility as a strategic reserve asset and the growing demand for exchange-traded funds.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on X:
It's very rare/difficult to get an endowment to purchase into an ETF – especially a Harvard or Yale one, it's pretty much as good a validation as an ETF might be. However, half a billion only accounts for 1% of the whole. Big enough to rank sixteenth amongst IBIT holders.
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF records its biggest outflow day
US-based Bitcoin ETFs have suffered from declining investor demand in recent weeks, with last week being particularly disappointing. Exchange-traded funds saw a complete net outflow of $1.1 billion last week, in keeping with the newest market data.
Leading these withdrawals was BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, which is currently on a three-day outflow streak. Data from SoSoValue shows that $463.1 million flowed out of the BTC ETF on Friday, November 14th.
As of this writing, BlackRock's IBIT remains to be the biggest spot Bitcoin ETF with net assets of around $74.98 billion.
The price of BTC within the day by day time-frame | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image by Rick Friedman/AFP via Getty Images, chart by TradingView
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