Harvard Flips the Script: Trims Bitcoin by 20%, Enters Ethereum Market With $86.8M Buy in Q4 2025

TLDR:

• Harvard Management Company trimmed nearly 1.5 million Bitcoin ETF shares, reducing its position by roughly 21 percent in Q4 2025. 
• HMC purchased nearly 4 million Ethereum ETF shares worth $86.8 million, marking its first-ever exposure to the asset class. 
• Bitcoin fell from $126,000 to $88,429 while Ethereum lost 28 percent of its value during Harvard’s repositioning quarter. 
• Finance professors from UCLA and University of Washington criticized Harvard’s crypto strategy, questioning valuations and portfolio risk management.

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Harvard Management Company sold approximately 20 percent of its Bitcoin holdings while placing an $86.8 million bet on Ethereum during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025.

The endowment trimmed nearly 1.5 million shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust yet opened a fresh position in an Ethereum exchange-traded fund.

Securities and Exchange Commission filings released Friday confirmed the moves. Bitcoin remains Harvard’s largest publicly disclosed holding, valued at over $265 million despite the reduction.

Harvard Shifts Crypto Strategy with Ethereum Entry

Harvard Management Company’s $86.8 million Ethereum purchase marked the endowment’s first exposure to the asset.

The fund acquired nearly 4 million shares of an Ethereum ETF, a cryptocurrency Harvard had never previously held.

This move came as Bitcoin was trimmed by roughly 1.5 million shares, reflecting a broader repositioning within the digital asset space.

The quarter proved turbulent for both cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin peaked near $126,000 in October 2025 before sliding to $88,429 by quarter’s end.

Ethereum fared worse, shedding approximately 28 percent of its value over the same period. Harvard’s entry into Ethereum during this price decline suggests the fund saw longer-term opportunity despite short-term losses.

Finance experts, however, raised questions about both moves. Andrew F. Siegel, an emeritus professor of finance at the University of Washington, called the Bitcoin investment outright “risky.”

He pointed to a steep year-to-date decline and challenged the asset’s ability to hold value over time.

“It is down 22.8% year-to-date,” Siegel wrote. “It can be argued that the risk of Bitcoin is partly due to its lack of intrinsic value.”

His remarks cast doubt on whether the endowment’s crypto exposure aligns with its long-term financial responsibilities.

Harvard Exits Key Holdings, Reshuffles Tech Exposure

Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, a finance professor at UCLA, extended his criticism to Harvard’s new Ethereum position as well.

He had previously questioned the Bitcoin investment and noted that his concerns had since proven accurate. His latest remarks were equally pointed about the Ethereum bet.

“In my view, any underdiversified position in something as speculative as crypto does not make sense for HMC,” Subrahmanyam wrote. “If I were to ask them how they value BTC or Ethereum, I doubt I would get a cogent and precise answer.”

He added that he again questioned the wisdom of the Ethereum investment after raising earlier alarms about Bitcoin.

Outside of cryptocurrency, Harvard Management Company made several notable portfolio changes. The endowment opened a $141 million stake in Union Pacific Corporation following the railroad’s announced merger with Norfolk Southern.

Subrahmanyam acknowledged this particular move, saying the Union Pacific investment “may prove valuable” for the university given the proposed transcontinental railroad network it would create.

Harvard also exited two positions entirely, liquidating its full 1.1 million-share stake in Light & Wonder, Inc. and its 92,000-share position in Maze Therapeutics Inc.

On the technology front, Broadcom surged 222 percent within the portfolio while Google and Taiwan Semiconductor rose 25 percent and 45 percent respectively.

Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia each saw reductions of 36 percent, 21 percent, and 30 percent. Siegel noted that “the market is generally nervous right now with AI being so new and so expensive to train and deploy,” a factor he said likely drove some of those cuts.

Harvard’s directly held public equity portfolio declined by roughly $25,000 from the prior quarter, representing only a fraction of the university’s $56.9 billion endowment.

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