TechFlow News, May 17: According to The Block, multiple sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, and traditional banks disclosed their 13F holdings for Q1 2026:
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala increased its stake in the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) from 12.7 million shares to 14.72 million shares—a net addition of over $90 million—bringing its total holding value to approximately $566 million (a 16% increase quarter-on-quarter). Its subsidiary, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), maintained its IBIT position unchanged at 8.21 million shares, valued at roughly $316 million.
University endowments’ crypto ETF holdings remained largely stable:
- Harvard University’s endowment held 3.04 million IBIT shares (valued at approximately $117 million), a 43% decrease from 5.35 million shares at the end of 2025 (having already reduced its position by 21% in Q4); IBIT is no longer its largest holding. It also fully liquidated its Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust position—established last quarter and valued at $86.8 million.
- Dartmouth College held 201,500 IBIT shares (valued at approximately $7.7 million, unchanged from last quarter); shifted its Ethereum ETF exposure from the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust to the Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (maintaining a position of 178,100 shares); and added 304,800 shares of the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (valued at nearly $3.67 million), becoming the first publicly disclosed university endowment to express interest in crypto assets beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.
- Brown University maintained its IBIT position at 212,500 shares; Emory University simplified its Bitcoin fund allocation by liquidating 4,450 IBIT shares and increasing its Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust holdings to 1.35 million shares.
Traditional financial institutions actively rebalanced positions: Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) increased its spot IBIT holdings while hedging with put/call options; Scotiabank exited Trump-related Bitcoin stocks and added 214,000 IBIT shares; Barclays held approximately 4.46 million IBIT shares in spot and deployed substantial options positions; Hong Kong–based Laurore reduced its IBIT holdings from 8.78 million to 6.85 million shares.
