Harvard University liquidates Ethereum ETF, Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund increases IBIT holdings

According to The Block, sovereign wealth funds, universities, and banks have recently disclosed their 13F holdings for the first quarter of 2026. Regarding sovereign wealth funds, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala increased its holdings in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (ticker IBIT), raising its stake from 12,702,323 shares to 14,721,917 shares. This represents an additional investment of over $90 million, bringing the total value of its holdings to nearly $660 million. Mubadala's Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) maintained its IBIT holdings unchanged, with 8,218,712 shares valued at $315.8 million. Several university endowment funds reported largely stable holdings in cryptocurrency ETFs. Harvard University's endowment reported holding 3,044,612 shares of IBIT, valued at approximately $117 million. This is a 43% decrease from the 5.35 million shares of IBIT held at the end of 2025, following a 21% reduction in the fourth quarter. IBIT is no longer its largest holding, having been surpassed by TSMC, Alphabet, Microsoft, and the SPDR Gold Trust. Harvard University also completely liquidated its $86.8 million position in BlackRock's spot Ethereum ETF, which it had established in the previous quarter. Dartmouth College reported holding 201,531 shares of IBIT, valued at just over $9 million, unchanged from the previous quarter. The college shifted its Ethereum ETF holdings from Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust to Grayscale's Ethereum Staking ETF, maintaining its position of 178,148 shares. Dartmouth College also disclosed a new holding in the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, with 304,803 shares currently valued at nearly $3.67 million. This marks the first instance of an institutional endowment fund expressing interest in expanding its investments beyond Bitcoin or Ethereum to other cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, Brown University maintained its holding of 212,500 shares of IBIT, while Emory University consolidated its Bitcoin fund holdings from two to one. The university liquidated its 4,450 shares of IBIT and increased its holdings in Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust from just over 1 million shares to 1,354,148 shares. Traditional financial institutions also engaged in active position rebalancing and hedging. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) increased its direct stake in IBIT and expanded its use of put and call options for hedging purposes. Scotiabank, after liquidating its previous holdings in Trump-related US Bitcoin stocks, increased its IBIT holdings by 214,370 shares. Barclays also disclosed its IBIT positions, including approximately 4.46 million shares of the spot stock, as well as substantial put and call option positions related to the ETF. Hong Kong-based Laurore reduced its IBIT holdings from 8,786,279 shares to 6,846,279 shares.