Catenaa, Thursday, May 21, 2026- Harvard University sharply reduced its bitcoin ETF exposure and fully exited a major ether ETF position during the first quarter while Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds increased bitcoin investments, according to institutional filings released last week.
Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, increased its holdings in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, known as IBIT.
The fund raised its position from 12.7 million shares to 14.7 million shares by March 31.
At current market prices, the stake is valued near $660 million.
Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council maintained its existing IBIT exposure at 8.2 million shares.
The value of that position declined to about $315.8 million during the quarter because of falling bitcoin prices rather than selling activity.
Filings also showed a reporting structure change involving subsidiary Al Warda Investments, though the beneficial ownership remained unchanged.
The moves reinforced growing institutional support for bitcoin ETFs among sovereign wealth investors despite broader crypto market volatility earlier this year.
Harvard University continued cutting its crypto ETF positions after becoming one of the world’s largest publicly disclosed university bitcoin ETF holders last year.The university reported holding 3.04 million IBIT shares valued around $117 million as of March 31.That represented a 43% reduction from the 5.35 million shares held at the end of 2025.
Harvard had already reduced the position by 21% during the previous quarter. The university also fully exited its position in BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF, worth roughly $86.8 million.
The ether investment had only been established one quarter earlier. IBIT also lost its status as Harvard’s largest disclosed holding. Taiwan Semiconductor became the endowment’s largest reported investment, followed by Alphabet, Microsoft and SPDR Gold Trust.
Universities Hold Steady
Several other university endowments largely maintained their crypto ETF exposure. Dartmouth College kept its position of 201,531 IBIT shares worth slightly more than $9 million.
The college also shifted its ether exposure from Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust into Grayscale’s Ethereum Staking ETF while keeping the same share count.
Dartmouth additionally disclosed a new position in the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF worth nearly $3.7 million.
The investment marked one of the earliest known examples of a university endowment expanding beyond bitcoin and ethereum into alternative crypto assets.
Brown University maintained its existing IBIT holdings without major changes.
Emory University simplified its bitcoin ETF exposure by exiting BlackRock’s IBIT while increasing holdings in the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust.
Banks Adjust Positions
Several major banks also adjusted crypto ETF exposure during the quarter.
Royal Bank of Canada increased direct IBIT holdings while expanding related put and call option positions for hedging purposes.
Bank of Nova Scotia added more than 214,000 IBIT shares after previously exiting shares tied to Trump-linked American Bitcoin.
Barclays disclosed a complex IBIT strategy involving roughly 4.46 million spot shares alongside large options positions.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based entity Laurore reduced its IBIT exposure from 8.78 million shares to 6.84 million shares.
The filings reflected growing institutional diversification within crypto ETF markets as investors balanced long-term exposure against market volatility and regulatory uncertainty.
