Harvard empties $87 million Ethereum ETF, and Abu Dhabi continues to increase its Bitcoin purchases

According to The Block, in the 2026 first-quarter 13F filings: Harvard University’s endowment fund completely liquidated its Ethereum ETF position worth $87 million, and further cut its holdings of BlackRock’s IBIT by 43%. Meanwhile, two sovereign wealth funds in Abu Dhabi maintained or increased their Bitcoin ETF exposure during the same period, showing starkly different allocation strategies.

Harvard Q1: Cuts IBIT again by 43%, ETH ETF set to zero

As of March 31, Harvard University’s endowment fund held 3,044,612 shares of IBIT, with a market value of about $117 million, and it was no longer the largest single position in Harvard’s disclosures—its top rankings now are Taiwan Semiconductor, Alphabet, Microsoft, and the SPDR Gold Trust in that order. IBIT has been reduced for multiple consecutive quarters since last year’s flagship holding, consistent with Harvard’s earlier trend of gradually shifting to other allocations. At the same time, Harvard fully exited its $87 million Ethereum ETF position.

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala adds to BTC ETF by more than $90 million

In contrast, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign funds maintained the add-on direction. In the first quarter, Mubadala Investment Company increased its IBIT holdings from 12,702,323 shares by 16% to 14,721,917 shares, adding more than $90 million in new buying. Due to a drop in IBIT prices during the quarter, the total market value at quarter-end fell from Q4 2025’s $630 million to $566 million, but Mubadala has added for five consecutive quarters since Q4 2024. Another Abu Dhabi fund, ADIC, showed in its Q1 13F that it held 8,218,712 shares of IBIT, with a market value of about $315.8 million. The share count matches the return of its subsidiary Al Warda Investments in Q4 2025, implying ADIC did not actually sell; the market value difference mainly reflects the decline in IBIT’s quarterly price.

Diverging institutional allocations: academic vs sovereign funds

The academic-style endowment funds represented by Harvard and the sovereign wealth funds represented by Abu Dhabi are now showing a clear split in crypto asset allocation. In recent years, academic funds have tended to “lock in profits after capturing some gains and rotate into other assets,” reflecting their diversification and sensitivity to short-term volatility; sovereign funds, meanwhile, continue long-term theme-based allocations and ignore quarterly fluctuations. The Q1 13F disclosed by the Soros Fund on 5/16 also serves as an example indicator of 13F-quarter trends, highlighting how the capital side is voting with real allocations on how it views the next phase of crypto assets.

This article Harvard clears its $87 million Ethereum ETF; Abu Dhabi continues to add to Bitcoin first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.