How Did Institutions Adjust Their Crypto Asset Holdings in Q1? Who Increased and Who Exited?
The Q1 2026 13F filings reveal a sharply divided picture of institutional activity in crypto assets. Sovereign wealth funds and bank capital increased exposure, while major endowment funds notably de-risked.
The most significant buying came from the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, which expanded its position in the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). JPMorgan Chase dramatically increased its IBIT exposure by 174%, with other global banks like RBC, Scotiabank, and Barclays also adding to Bitcoin ETF holdings, while using options for asymmetric protection.
Conversely, the Harvard Management Company (Harvard University's endowment), once a major academic holder, cut its IBIT position by 43% and fully exited a BlackRock Ethereum ETF. The reallocated capital flowed into traditional assets like TSMC, Microsoft, and gold.
Other Ivy League endowments showed varied strategies: Brown and Dartmouth maintained Bitcoin positions, with Dartmouth making a nuanced shift by moving Ethereum exposure to a staking ETF and adding a Solana staking ETF to capture yield.
Hedge fund Jane Street significantly reduced Bitcoin ETF holdings, locking in profits, while Wells Fargo increased its Ethereum stake.
Overall, institutions are deploying traditional capital market tactics—buying, selling, hedging, and rotating—within crypto via spot ETFs. The Q2 reports will be crucial to determine if Harvard's retreat is an outlier or the start of a broader trend among endowments.
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