The U.S. Foundation and University Endowment Fund Join Cryptocurrency Craze, Seeking to Build Bitcoin Portfolio

BlockBeats News, February 9th, U.S. foundations and university endowments are increasing their investments in cryptocurrency, joining the digital asset trend. The one-year-old Austin University is raising a $5 million Bitcoin fund as part of its $200 million endowment fund, making it the first of its kind in the country among endowments and foundations.

In October last year, Emory University in Georgia became the first university endowment fund to disclose a Bitcoin ETF holding. According to its chief investment officer, the $48 billion Rockefeller Foundation is considering increasing its cryptocurrency investments if its user base, which invested in a crypto risk fund two years ago, becomes more diversified.

A report on cryptocurrency risk funds indicates that endowments and foundations, which were still in a wait-and-see mode a few years ago, are pouring in a significant amount of funds. Since 2018, Pantera Capital has seen an eight-fold increase in its endowment and foundation client base. Leading U.S. endowments and foundations were among the first institutional investors to accept cryptocurrency.

Yale University's endowment fund invested in two cryptocurrency risk funds in 2018 when the price of Bitcoin was less than a tenth of today's level. Britt Harris, former CIO of the $78 billion University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company, stated that under his leadership, the largest university endowment fund in the U.S. made "small experimental" investments in cryptocurrency risk funds in the early 2020s, seeing it as a "potentially attractive future strategy."