Harvard Boosts Bitcoin ETF Holdings 257% to $443M Amid Investor Withdrawals

Harvard University has expanded its Bitcoin ETFs holdings by 257% according to a recent filing. That is despite the fund witnessing record outflows in the last few days.

Harvard Doubles Down on Bitcoin ETF Holdings

In a filing, Harvard revealed the ownership of 6.81 million shares of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT. As of September 30, this was valued at $442.8 million. This represents a 257% increase from its June holdings of 1.9 million shares.

At the same time, the university also almost doubled its gold-backed ETF exposure. They reported 661,391 shares of GLD valued at $235 million. This is a 99% jump from its previous position.

While the recent price crash made retail investors see losses, Harvard seems to be looking at the long-term potential.

This change comes despite earlier skepticism by Harvard. As far back as 2018, a Harvard economist was predicting that Bitcoin was more likely to collapse to $100 than ever cross $100,000 by 2028. However, the coin has rallied to as high as $120,000 way before the economist’s timeline.

Most importantly, it places Harvard in the top 30 institutional holders of IBIT. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said that typically, endowments are hesitant to invest via ETF structures. This Harvard allocation sets a tone for other institutions.

Meanwhile, another institution, Al Warda Investments, also saw increase. They boosted their Bitcoin fund holdings to 7.96 million IBIT shares worth $517.6 million. This is a 230% jump since June.

Withdrawal Continues In The ETF Market

According to the data from SoSoValue, the BTC products continued with their 3-day streak of outflows. It saw another $492 million in withdrawals during trading yesterday. During trading on Thursday alone, the BTC fund recorded $869.9 million in outflows, which now ranks as the second-largest since their launch.

This is taking a toll on Bitcoin’s price. In the last 24 hours alone, the crypto decline 1.24% to $96,261. Yesterday, it fell to around $95k before stabilizing.

Nonetheless, it remains bullish on some metrics. Since their inception in early 2024, Bitcoin ETFs have seen more than $60 billion in net inflows. Trading volume also crossed $1.5 trillion. BlackRock’s IBIT alone now controls more than half of the U.S. BTC fund market.

To add to that, Ethereum funds have also witnessed heavy outflows. Essentially, only the Solana ETF and XRP ETF still appear to be creating inflows of funds.