Author: Blockchain Knight

The cryptocurrency market in the first quarter of 2026 initially declined and then rose. By mid-May, the 13F holding reports were revealed as scheduled, showing a highly differentiated landscape among institutions.

On one side, sovereign funds and bank capital increased their holdings against the trend, while on the other side, traditional endowment funds decisively reduced risk. The spot ETF has completely dragged Bitcoin into the tactical game of global capital.

The most distinct signal of increased holdings comes from Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. In the first quarter, it increased its holdings in the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust from 12.7 million shares to 14.72 million shares, with a market value of approximately $566 million, continuing the trend of increasing every quarter since the end of 2024.

JPMorgan closely follows with a staggering 174% quarter-over-quarter increase in IBIT exposure. Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and Barclays are also increasing their holdings in Bitcoin ETFs, but unlike in previous quarters, they are generally using both call and put options to manage positions.

This indicates that even when increasing positions, professional institutions are proactively building asymmetric protection to respond to possible tail impacts.

Contrary to the aforementioned trend is the Harvard University Endowment Fund. This fund was once one of the largest academic investors in U.S. cryptocurrency ETFs, holding nearly $443 million in IBIT at its peak.

However, after reducing its holdings by 21% in the fourth quarter of 2025, it further cut its position by 43% in the first quarter of this year, leaving only 3.04 million shares of IBIT, worth $117 million. At the same time, it completely liquidated its position in the BlackRock Ethereum spot ETF ETHA, which amounted to about $86.8 million.

The direction of the funds after adjustment is also clear, with new investments in traditional assets such as TSMC, Microsoft, Alphabet, and SPDR Gold Trust.

Whether characterized as portfolio rebalancing, tactical de-risking, or defense against macro uncertainty, such a significant withdrawal still catches the market's attention.

Of course, the Ivy League schools did not act uniformly, with Brown University and Dartmouth College remaining steady in their IBIT positions.

However, Dartmouth made more refined adjustments, shifting its Ethereum exposure from the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust to the Grayscale Ethereum Staked ETF, and newly building a position in Bitwise Solana Staked ETF, holding 304,800 shares worth $3.67 million.

This proactive capture of staking yields indicates that a group of institutions is no longer satisfied with a single price exposure and is beginning to explore enhanced returns that may come from on-chain income.

The differentiation extends beyond universities. Hedge fund Jane Street significantly reduced its IBIT position by 71% and the Fidelity Bitcoin ETF (FBTC) position by 60%, locking in temporary gains; Wells Fargo, on the other hand, increased its position in Ethereum.

It can be seen that institutions currently have a relatively effective response strategy for the cryptocurrency market. Through buying, selling, hedging, and swapping, these conventional tactics of the traditional stock world are being fully replicated in the cryptocurrency field due to the deep embedding of spot ETFs.

The second quarter's 13F report will become the next touchstone and may largely answer whether Harvard's withdrawal is an exception or a precursor to widespread retreat among endowment funds. In the face of the current uncertainty in the global macro market, the cryptocurrency market remains full of challenges.

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