In the first quarter of 2026, institutional holdings in cryptocurrency ETFs displayed significant divergence, according to SEC 13F filings. According to Foresight News, Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund, Mubadala, increased its IBIT holdings to 14,721,917 shares, valued at approximately $566 million, marking a 16% rise from the end of 2025. This continues a trend of accumulation since the fourth quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, Al Warda Investments, under the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), maintained its IBIT holdings at 8,218,712 shares, valued at around $316 million.
Harvard University's endowment fund reduced its IBIT holdings to 3,044,612 shares, valued at about $117 million, reflecting a 43% decrease from the end of 2025, following a 21% reduction in Q4. Additionally, Harvard completely divested from BlackRock's Ethereum spot ETF, valued at $86.8 million, with TSMC replacing IBIT as its largest holding.
Among other universities, Dartmouth College added 305,000 shares of the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, while Emory University exited its IBIT position and increased its Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust holdings to 1,354,000 shares. Brown University maintained its existing iShares Blockchain ETF holdings.
In the banking sector, the Royal Bank of Canada expanded its direct IBIT holdings and increased its options hedging. Scotiabank added 214,000 shares of IBIT, and Barclays held approximately 4.46 million shares of spot IBIT along with significant options positions. Hong Kong offshore institution Laurore reduced its IBIT holdings from 8,786,279 shares to 6,846,279 shares.