Harvard’s $40M Bitcoin Bet Backfires as Crypto Markets Tumble
Even Ivy League endowments aren't immune to crypto's volatility—Harvard just learned that lesson the expensive way.
The Price of Admission
When markets turn, even the smartest money can look foolish. Harvard's endowment—normally a bastion of conservative, long-term strategy—took a swing at digital assets and watched a nine-figure position get halved. That's the kind of tuition hike nobody budgets for.
Institutional Growing Pains
This wasn't some reckless moonshot. The move signaled a broader institutional acceptance—a major endowment dipping its toes into the digital asset pool. But timing is everything in finance, and Harvard's entry coincided with a market-wide correction that spared nobody, not even those with a 400-year track record.
The New Risk Calculus
The loss underscores a brutal truth for traditional finance: crypto markets move faster and hit harder. A 50% drawdown in a blue-chip stock would trigger congressional hearings. In crypto, it's a Tuesday. It's the ultimate test of conviction—and risk management.
Looking Beyond the Red
Short-term pain often precedes long-term positioning. Every major financial innovation—from junk bonds to quant trading—bloodied early adopters before becoming mainstream. The real question isn't about a single quarter's loss, but whether the underlying thesis on digital assets still holds.
After all, the same endowment that lost millions on crypto also missed early Amazon and Google. Sometimes the smartest play is looking stupid—temporarily.
Bitcoin slump cuts into Harvard’s trade
On paper, the loss barely dents Harvard’s balance sheet. The school runs a $57 billion endowment, the largest in the United States. The Bitcoin position listed as of September 30 made up less than 1% of total assets. Still, the timing shows how deeply Bitcoin now sits inside large institutional portfolios. Big money kept flowing in even after prices ran far ahead of past cycles. Before the pullback, Bitcoin had gained 34% in 2025, setting a record above $126,000.
Harvard’s wider investment record shows mixed results over time. Over the past decade, the endowment delivered an 8.2% annualized return, ranking ninth out of ten among Ivy League and peer schools tracked by Markov Processes International. Results improved under current chief N. P. “Narv” Narvekar.
During his eight-year run, the endowment posted a 9.6% annualized return. For the year ending June 30, Harvard reported an 11.9% gain, trailing Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 14.8% and Stanford University at 14.3%.
Other schools hold smaller crypto stakes
Other universities also showed exposure during the third quarter, though at far lower levels. Brown University reported about $14 million in the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF.
Emory University disclosed roughly $52 million in the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF. Paper losses do not always force action for long-term investors like endowments and pension systems as long as cash remains available in other parts of the portfolio. Many large funds have lived through extreme crypto swings before.
Public pensions were among the groups hit during the market crash in 2022. Since that low point, Bitcoin prices have more than quintupled, restoring value for investors who stayed in.
Some investors still reject crypto as a fit for long holding periods. Jay Hatfield, chief executive of Infrastructure Capital Advisors, summed up that view in plain terms when he said, “When you’re gambling, you need to sell it, not hold it.” Harvard’s position stays tied to the next MOVE in Bitcoin today.
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