Dartmouth crypto ETF value falls 15% to $12.4M; shares unchanged

Dartmouth College's crypto ETF holdings fell 15% to about $12.4 million in the second quarter. The $2.2 million decline came entirely from market moves, not share sales. The university kept the same share count in all three funds across the March 31 and June 30 reporting dates, according to a Form 13F submitted Thursday.

The June 30 filing listed the same three products as the March 31 report. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust made up the largest position in the earlier filing at roughly $7.7 million. The Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF, crypto.news reported, came in at about $3.5 million and the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF at about $3.3 million. None of the positions involves direct token ownership.

The combined position stood at $14.6 million on March 31. At $12.4 million on June 30, the three funds represented about 0.14% of Dartmouth's estimated $9 billion endowment.

All three underlying cryptocurrencies lost value after March 31. Bitcoin closed that day at $68,233.31. Ether finished at $2,104.71 and Solana at $83.11, according to historical data from Yahoo Finance.

By Aug. 15, Bitcoin traded near $62,976, about 7.7% below its March 31 close. Ether had slipped roughly 10.7% to about $1,880. Solana, near $75.20, was down about 9.5%. None of the three had recovered its March 31 close by that date.

Fund values do not always move in exact proportion to the assets behind them. Fees, staking rewards, each fund's share structure and differences in market-closing times can shift the reported figures. Dartmouth's 15% decline measures the combined value of its ETF shares on June 30, not a computed loss from holding tokens directly through Aug. 15.

The filing does not show purchase prices or whether the positions produced a realized gain or loss, and no shares changed hands between the two quarter-end dates. The $2.2 million reduction is a change in disclosed market value.

Dartmouth began reporting crypto-linked investments in 2025, placing it among the first U.S. universities to disclose digital asset exposure through exchange-traded products. BlackRock's IBIT provides spot Bitcoin exposure. The Grayscale and Bitwise funds attach staking provisions to their respective assets. The listed-fund structure keeps the endowment inside conventional investment and reporting systems, with no wallets or private keys to manage.

Form 13F requires institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in qualifying securities to disclose long positions every quarter. The reports generally cover U.S.-listed shares, ETFs, some convertible debt and listed options held on the final day of a quarter. According to crypto.news's June guide to 13F reports, filings can arrive as many as 45 days after quarter-end. Dartmouth's latest report therefore shows its June 30 holdings, not the portfolio on the Thursday when the filing became public. Its next Form 13F will cover securities held on Sept. 30.

The form does not cover short positions or hedges. Direct token holdings sit outside it because Bitcoin and Ether are not Section 13(f) securities. The SEC report is not a complete account of the university's assets, which may also include private investments, bonds, property and other unlisted holdings. Dartmouth could hold additional digital assets beyond the three disclosed funds; the filing neither confirms nor rules that out.

An unchanged share count separates a portfolio decision from a valuation change. A lower dollar figure in a quarterly filing does not by itself prove an institution cut its position. The value can fall while the share count stays flat, which is what happened at Dartmouth.

Morgan Stanley's second-quarter filing showed the same effect on a larger scale. The bank raised its IBIT share count 23% to about 16.5 million shares. The position's reported value fell nearly 18%, from about $667 million to $549 million, according to an Aug. 14 report on its holdings. Bitcoin declined over the same stretch. Morgan Stanley carries an Alpha Score of 61, labeled Moderate, under AlphaScala's proprietary metrics.

Harvard Management Company took a different route in the first quarter. It eliminated its BlackRock iShares Ethereum Trust position after reporting 3,870,900 shares worth $86.82 million at the end of 2025. The same filing reduced the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF stake to 3,044,612 shares from 5,353,612. The remaining IBIT position was valued at about $116.97 million, according to the first-quarter SEC disclosure. The filing did not state why Harvard exited the Ether fund or trimmed its Bitcoin stake.

Harvard's endowment is valued at about $57 billion. The university had not disclosed its second-quarter 2026 holdings as of Friday. Its next Form 13F will show only the qualifying U.S.-listed securities held on June 30; trades completed after the quarter ended will not appear.