USA's largest university funds quietly buy Bitcoin

It turned out that the donation funds of the most important universities in the USA that support venture capitals received cryptocurrencies directly from many exchanges, especially Coinbase.

According to the information obtained by CoinDesk; Some well-known universities such as Harvard, Yale, Brown and Michigan purchase cryptocurrencies directly from exchanges. (He knew that the donation funds of the 8 most prominent universities in the country have been interested in blockchain technology through crypto-focused venture capital since 2018)

A source who does not want to be disclosed said, "Currently, there are few numbers, but university donation funds are buying crypto money." said.

Yale and Brown universities did not respond to questions on the subject. Harvad and Michigan declined to comment. In addition, in Coinbase's 2020 report, university donation funds were mentioned in one place, but no university was named.

According to the information provided by a source, some university donation funds even have an 18-month account on Coinbase:

"They may have accounts since the middle of 2019. Most of them have been in this business for at least a year. I think they will probably start discussing this issue openly this year. I think they'll be sitting on an amount that they pay very well.

As it is known, university donation funds are capital pools accumulated by academic institutions in the form of donations. These funds, which support education and research, can be distributed to various assets for investment purposes.

Harvard University is the university with the largest donation fund with an asset of $ 40 billion ... Yale 30, Michigan has 12.5 and Brown University has a $ 4.7 billion donation fund ...

Yale invested in two cryptocurrency funds

In 2018, Yale University chief investment officer David Swensen gained media attention by supporting two cryptocurrency venture funds. One of the funds was led by Andreessen Horowitz and the other by Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of COINBASE and former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang.

Now they buy cryptocurrencies directly

Yale University was followed by Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth College, MIT, the University of North Carolina and Michigan. Now, some of these giant institutions seem to be making the transition to this universe by directly purchasing crypto money.

A person working in the crypto hedge fund world, who gave information on the subject, did not want to be disclosed, said, “There has been this great change in recent months. We see that salary-focused pension funds also make serious purchases. We see the purchases of public pension funds ”.

Many institutions feel more comfortable with Bitcoin

Ari Paul, co-founder of BlockTower Capital and former asset manager at the University of Chicago, said: “If I had heard about this 3 years ago, I would have argued that it was wrong. However, we now see that many institutions are comfortable and safe about Bitcoin. They understand Bitcoin and buy it directly from regulated places like Coinbase, Fidelity or Anchorage. " said.