Harvard Management Company sharply decreased its crypto exposure in the first quarter of 2026, after an increase in the fourth quarter of 2025. The 13F regulatory filings show several major moves :
This withdrawal is all the more striking because Harvard was among the institutional investors most exposed to American crypto ETFs. At its peak exposure, the fund held nearly 443 million dollars in IBIT shares in the third quarter of 2025.
The new documents filed with the SEC also show a reallocation towards more traditional stocks such as TSMC, Microsoft, Alphabet, and SPDR Gold Trust. Several hypotheses are suggested : portfolio rebalancing, tactical risk reduction, or arbitrage in favor of less risky assets in the current macroeconomic context.
In contrast to Harvard, several major institutions continue to increase their exposure to bitcoin via American spot ETFs. The most spectacular case remains the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala. According to the latest regulatory filings, the institution now holds 14,721,917 IBIT shares, worth approximately 566 million dollars.
This accumulation fits into a strategy carried out quarter after quarter since late 2024. Other American financial players also follow this trend, notably JPMorgan, which increased its IBIT exposure by 174 %.
The upcoming regulatory filings for the second quarter, expected during the summer, will be closely monitored by the markets. They will help determine whether Harvard’s reduction marks the beginning of a wider disengagement by major American funds or if it is simply an isolated adjustment. One thing is already clear: the arrival of spot ETFs has brought bitcoin into the classic arbitrage of global finance, with the same sector rotations, profit-taking, and defensive strategies as traditional assets.