Dartmouth Endowment’s Crypto Exposure Falls $2 Million as Bitcoin, Ether and Solana Slide
Dartmouth College’s $9 billion endowment reported approximately $12.4 million in crypto-linked ETF holdings as of June 30, down about 15% from three months earlier despite holding the same number of shares.
Dartmouth College’s crypto-related investments lost more than $2 million in value over three months as falling prices for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) weighed on the university endowment’s exchange-traded fund holdings. The decline was reported in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Dartmouth’s ETF Holdings Decline
The trustees of Dartmouth College reported approximately $12.4 million in holdings across three crypto-linked ETFs as of June 30. The portfolio included the Bitwise Solana staking ETF, the Grayscale Ethereum staking ETF and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF.
Dartmouth reported holding the same number of shares in each fund as it did on March 31, when the investments were valued at approximately $14.6 million. The roughly 15% decline therefore reflected changes in the underlying crypto market rather than a disclosed reduction in the endowment’s ETF positions.
The reported holdings represent a relatively small allocation within Dartmouth’s approximately $9 billion endowment, but the disclosure remains notable because the university was among the first US higher-education institutions to publicly add digital-asset exposure to its investment portfolio in 2025.
Crypto Prices Drive the Change
The value reduction broadly tracked declines in the assets associated with the ETFs between March 31 and June 30:
- Bitcoin: down 7.7% to $62,915
- Solana: down 9.6% to $75.11
- Ether: down 10.8% to $1,875
Because the endowment maintained the same share counts, the filing offers a snapshot of how institutional crypto allocations can lose value even without active selling. The three funds also provide exposure through regulated market products rather than direct custody of the underlying tokens.
Dartmouth’s disclosure comes as other major university endowments take different approaches to digital assets. Harvard University, whose endowment is valued at approximately $57 billion, had not disclosed its second-quarter 2026 holdings as of the report. It had, however, reported liquidating its entire $87 million position in BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum ETF as of March 31.
What This Means
Dartmouth’s filing underscores both the growing visibility of crypto in institutional portfolios and the volatility attached to that exposure. A modest allocation can produce multimillion-dollar swings when token prices move sharply, even when portfolio managers do not change their positions.
For the broader market, the disclosure is less a signal of forced selling than evidence that institutional participation remains sensitive to crypto price cycles. Dartmouth’s continued share ownership suggests its reported exposure was still in place at quarter-end, while Harvard’s liquidation highlights that university endowments may pursue materially different risk and liquidity strategies.