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

On February 9th, U.S. foundations and university endowments are escalating their investments in cryptocurrency and getting on board 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 among endowments and foundations in the country. In October of last year, Emory University in Georgia became the first university endowment fund to disclose a holding in a Bitcoin ETF. According to its chief investment officer, the $48 billion Rockefeller Foundation is contemplating increasing its cryptocurrency investments if the user base that invested in a crypto risk fund two years ago becomes more diversified. A report on cryptocurrency risk funds shows that endowments and foundations, which were in a wait-and-see stance a few years ago, are now pouring in a substantial amount of funds. Since 2018, Pantera Capital has witnessed an eight-fold increase in its client base of endowments and foundations. Leading U.S. endowments and foundations were among the first institutional investors to embrace cryptocurrency. Yale University's endowment fund made investments in two cryptocurrency risk funds in 2018 when the price of Bitcoin was less than one-tenth of its current level. Britt Harris, the 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, viewing it as a "potentially attractive future strategy."