Ivy League school Brown University reveals $5 million investment in BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF

Brown University disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday that it holds nearly $5 million worth of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF shares. According to its latest institutional investment manager holdings reports, this appears to be the first time the Rhode Island-based Ivy has sought exposure to crypto.

In particular, the university holds 105,000 IBIT shares, worth $4,915,050, as of March 31, as stated in its 13F-HR form. IBIT is by far the largest spot Bitcoin ETF with some $56.81 billion in assets under management. 

According to VanEck Head of Digital Assets Research Matthew Sigel, Brown is the third U.S. university to announce a Bitcoin ETF purchase, after Emory and University of Austin. Brown’s 13-F lists 13 other investments, including in tech giants Amazon, Google and Microsoft as well as other sectors, totaling $216 million.

ETFs give investors the ability to gain exposure to an underlying asset without having to hold it directly. Experts largely agree that the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs represents one of the most successful financial product launches in history. IBIT, for instance, is the fastest ETF to hit $10 billion in AUM, in under two months.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas previously said spot Bitcoin ETFs represent four of the top 25 ETF launches since the fund type was introduced.

BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, is largely credited with reviving the movement to list spot Bitcoin ETFs, which were rejected time and again by the SEC since the first proposal was filed in 2013. 

“There are some risks with doing it yourself,” Emory associate professor of accounting Matthew Lyle said around the time the university disclosed its $15 million plus BTC ETF purchase. “Whereas if you use a company like Grayscale or BlackRock to do it for you… it’s unlikely that they’re going to steal your money because they’re well known.” 

Universities are not alone in making BTC ETF purchases. Institutions from the State of Wisconsin Investment Board to Jane Street have announced buys.