Ether gains allocation as Harvard trims Bitcoin by 21% in Q4

Harvard Management Company trimmed IBIT ~21% to fund ~$87M ETHA

Harvard Management Company (HMC) reduced its exposure to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) during the fourth quarter of 2025 and redirected capital into the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA). The endowment manager’s reallocation reflects a measured shift within listed crypto ETFs rather than an exit from the asset class. According to Bitcoin.com News, HMC cut its Bitcoin ETF position in Q4 while initiating roughly an $86 million entry into BlackRock’s Ether vehicle.

TipRanks separately reported that HMC opened a new ETH ETF position during the quarter, reinforcing the notion of a cross-asset rotation within the crypto sleeve. The timing situates the move late in the year, consistent with a quarter-end rebalance.

Holdings: iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ~$265.8M; iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) ~$87M

ZyCrypto reported that, as of the disclosure date, HMC’s crypto ETF exposure totaled approximately $352.6 million across the two funds. Within that, the iShares Bitcoin Trust accounted for about $265.8 million, while the newly established iShares Ethereum Trust position was roughly $87 million. The reduction in IBIT represented a little over 20% of HMC’s prior stake.

These figures come from a quarter-end public securities filing, which is point-in-time, may exclude certain instruments, and can change after the reporting date; they should not be read as real-time positions. Against that backdrop, academic commentary has emphasized valuation and risk considerations for endowments allocating to crypto-linked ETFs. “Bitcoin is risky and lacks intrinsic value,” said Andrew F. Siegel, Emeritus Professor of Finance at the University of Washington, in comments reported by The Block. He noted the asset’s drawdowns and volatility as central concerns for long-horizon institutions.

Context: Q4 2025 rotation amid negative spot ETF flows, drawdowns

AMBCrypto reported that HMC’s shift arrived as net flows into some spot crypto ETFs turned negative late in 2025, and as major crypto assets experienced drawdowns from their October highs. In that environment, reallocating from IBIT into ETHA can be read as a portfolio rotation within the same issuer’s lineup, potentially aimed at diversification or risk budgeting. Because public filings do not disclose mandate-level targets or hedges, it is not possible to infer HMC’s broader risk posture beyond the reported holdings.

At the time of this writing, Coinbase Global (Nasdaq: COIN) traded around $164.81 in after-hours dealings and was down about 27% year-to-date, based on data from Nasdaq. While COIN is not a proxy for crypto prices, its volatility and one-month decline of roughly 35% underscore the challenging backdrop around the period of HMC’s rebalance. Future flows into spot ETFs and cross-asset correlations will remain key variables, but their direction is inherently uncertain.