Brown University Invests in Bitcoin ETF, Joining Growing List of Institutional Crypto Backers

Brown University has quietly stepped into the crypto spotlight, revealing a nearly $5 million investment in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF — marking the Ivy League school’s first known move into digital assets.

The disclosure came via a recent SEC filing showing that as of March 31, Brown held 105,000 shares of IBIT, BlackRock’s flagship Bitcoin ETF. That fund has quickly become the dominant player in the space, with over $56 billion in assets under management. This puts Brown among a small but growing list of U.S. universities testing the waters of crypto via regulated financial products.

According to VanEck’s Matthew Sigel, Brown follows in the footsteps of Emory and the University of Austin, which have also revealed Bitcoin ETF holdings. The university’s 13F filing shows a broader $216 million portfolio, including big-name tech stocks like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs allow institutional and retail investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin’s price movements without having to directly hold the cryptocurrency. Since launching earlier this year, these funds have been labeled some of the most successful ETF rollouts ever. IBIT in particular broke records, becoming the fastest ETF to reach $10 billion in assets.

READ MORE:

Bitcoin Sell-Off Risk Grows as Price Nears $100K Profit Zone

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, played a pivotal role in getting spot Bitcoin ETFs approved after years of SEC rejections. The momentum has now attracted interest from a wide range of institutions. University endowments, state pension funds like the Wisconsin Investment Board, and Wall Street firms such as Jane Street are among those now holding shares of Bitcoin ETFs.

This gradual adoption by traditional finance and academia signals a shift in how digital assets are being perceived — not just as speculative tools, but as viable components of modern investment portfolios.

Alexander Stefanov