Harvard Management Company expanded its cryptocurrency footprint in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, opening a new multimillion-dollar position in an Ethereum exchange-traded fund even as it trimmed its Bitcoin holdings.
HMC purchased nearly 4 million shares of an Ethereum ETF, a cryptocurrency the endowment had not previously invested in, according to 13F filings released by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
Harvard cut nearly 1.5 million shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust — a 21 percent reduction — though Bitcoin remained HMC’s largest publicly disclosed holding at more than $265 million.
The pivot toward Ethereum came during a volatile quarter for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin peaked in October 2025 at roughly $126,000 before falling to $88,429 by the end of the quarter, while Ethereum lost approximately 28 percent of its value over the same period.
Some experts said they were skeptical of Harvard’s continued investment in cryptocurrency. Andrew F. Siegel, emeritus professor of finance at University of Washington, wrote in a statement that HMC’s investment in Bitcoin is “risky.”
“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.”
Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, a professor of finance at UCLA, wrote that the move deepens his concerns about the endowment’s cryptocurrency strategy.
“In my view, any underdiversified position in something as speculative as crypto (an asset of unproven true value) does not make sense for HMC,” he wrote.
“If I were to ask them how they value BTC or Ethereum I doubt I would get a cogent and precise answer,” Subrahmanyam added. “I questioned their investment in BTC and it proved prophetic. I again question the wisdom of their investment in Ethereum.”
Beyond crypto, HMC opened a new $141 million stake in Union Pacific Corporation, which operates one of the country’s largest freight networks.
The investment follows Union Pacific’s July 2025 announcement that it would merge with Norfolk Southern to form America’s first transcontinental railroad — a deal Subrahmanyam said “may prove valuable” for the University.
The quarter also saw HMC exit two previously held positions. The HMC sold its entire 1.1 million-share stake in Light & Wonder, Inc., a gambling products manufacturer that had been its second-largest holding, and liquidated its 92,000-share position in Maze Therapeutics Inc, a a biotechnology company focused on developing precision medicines.
Harvard also increased its investment in several major technology companies last quarter. The HMC more than tripled its Broadcom stake — a 222 percent increase — reversing a move from the previous quarter when it had cut the chipmaker’s position nearly in half. Harvard also boosted its shares in Google by 25 percent and in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company by 45 percent.
But other tech giants saw cuts. HMC sold 36 percent of its Amazon shares, trimmed its Microsoft position by 21 percent, and reduced Nvidia by 30 percent.
Siegel said investor anxiety over AI investment may have affected HMC’s decision-making in its technology holdings.
“The market is generally nervous right now with AI being so new and so expensive to train and deploy, and this would impact Microsoft as well,” Siegel wrote.
Harvard also maintained positions in two companies it first added last quarter: Klarna Group, the Swedish “buy now, pay later” payments company, and Zillow, an online real estate marketplace.
HMC spokesperson Patrick S. McKiernan declined to comment on the endowment’s investment strategy.
The University’s directly held public equity portfolio declined by roughly $25 thousand from the third quarter, though quarterly disclosures capture only a sliver of Harvard’s $56.9 billion endowment. The remaining assets fall outside the SEC’s reporting requirements.
—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.
—Staff writer Graham W. Lee can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @grahamwonlee.