Ivy League Bets on Bitcoin: Brown University Drops $5M on BlackRock’s BTC ETF

Another elite institution jumps on the crypto bandwagon—because nothing says ’forward-thinking endowment’ like chasing Wall Street’s latest speculative vehicle.

Brown University just allocated $5 million to BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, joining the growing list of universities hedging their bets with digital gold. The Rhode Island-based Ivy isn’t the first (hello, Yale and Harvard), but it’s a clear signal that even academia can’t resist the siren song of crypto’s volatility.

Fun fact: That $5M could cover roughly 71 years of tuition... or disappear in 71 seconds during a flash crash. Priorities!

Rhode-based Ivy League Institution Brown University disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that it is holding exposure to Bitcoin via BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares.

This marks the first time the academic institution has sought exposure to the world’s oldest and largest cryptocurrency.

Brown University’s Bitcoin ETF Position 

Add Brown University to the list of institutional investors taking a shine to Bitcoin.

A new 13F-HR filing with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission shows the university owned 105,000 shares of IBIT, worth roughly $4.9 million, as of March 31. The IBIT shares were not listed in the previous quarter’s filing.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is credited with rekindling the spot BTC ETF movement, after the SEC time and again rejected such products since 2013. These novel investment products give traditional investors access to Bitcoin without the hassle of buying and storing it themselves.

Pundits believe the introduction of Bitcoin ETFs marks one of the most successful financial product launches in history. Notably, IBIT is currently the biggest spot Bitcoin ETF, with a staggering $57 billion in assets under management.

Crypto Adoption Hits Universities

It’s worth mentioning that Brown is not the first university to have exposure to Bitcoin. The University of Austin (UATX) partnered with Bitcoin services company Unchained in May 2024 to launch a $5 million Bitcoin endowment.

Then, in October of the same year, Atlanta-based Emory University disclosed ownership of more than $14 million worth of shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust.

Showcasing the growing appetite for digital asset exposure, increasingly more institutional funds, publicly listed companies, and nation states are racing to gain access to the apex crypto.

The Bitcoin price soared above $97,500 on Friday for the first time since February, rebounding from a local low around $75,000 in early April. The asset is currently trading hands at $96,170, according to data from CoinGecko.