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This University Is Launching a Bitcoin Fund Worth $5 Million!

Yigit Taha OZTURK — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 13:30:45 +0000

The University of Austin is launching a first-of-its-kind Bitcoin investment fund, showcasing the growing Bitcoin adoption among United States institutions.

The university will raise over $5 million for a Bitcoin fund as part of its $200 million endowment fund.

“We don’t want to be left behind when [cryptocurrency’s] potential materializes dramatically,” Chun Lai, the foundation’s chief investment officer, told FT, according to a Feb. 9 report.

The news of this fund comes after Emory University revealed three months ago that it had accumulated over $15 million worth of Bitcoin through Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), making Emory the first U.S. university endowment to report holding Bitcoin ETFs.

University of Austin Targets 5-Year Bitcoin Holding Strategy

The University of Austin aims for a minimum five-year Bitcoin holding strategy, according to Chad Thevenot, senior vice president for advancement at the university, who said:

“We think there is long-term value there, just the same way that we might think there is long-term value in stocks or real estate.”

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This move highlights the growing appetite for digital asset exposure, with more institutional funds adopting multi-year holding strategies.

Crypto Adoption Expands Beyond Financial Institutions

The increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies is not just limited to financial institutions. Retirement funds are also showing a growing interest in digital assets, with a shift in perspective among younger generations.

According to a Bitget Research report shared with Cointelegraph, up to 20% of Gen Z and Alpha are open to receiving pensions in cryptocurrency. Moreover, 78% of respondents expressed greater trust in “alternative retirement savings options” over traditional pension funds, marking a significant shift towards decentralized finance and blockchain-based solutions.

The report emphasized that 40% of individuals in these age groups had already invested in cryptocurrency by January 2025.

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University of Austin and Unchained Launch Bitcoin-Based Endowment Fund

Tanju Akbıyık — Fri, 31 May 2024 09:00:54 +0000

Together, the University of Austin and Bitcoin financial services company Unchained have created a long-term endowment fund containing Bitcoin.

Innovative Endowment Fund Initiative

Unchained, a crypto services and custody business based in Austin, Texas, announced on May 31 that it has partnered with the University of Austin (UATX).

With the aim of accumulating $5 million, the two are starting the first long-term endowment fund housed in Bitcoin, which will be kept invested in BTC for at least five years.

This project seeks to investigate alternative financial methods and include Bitcoin in postgraduate education.

“By including bitcoin in its endowment, UATX is setting a precedent for other academic institutions to explore alternative and maybe more resilient financial models,” the statement said.

Starting the fund with a personal contribution of 2 BTC, valued at around $137,000 at current rates, Joseph Kelly, CEO of Unchained,

Kelly wrote in a May 31 post on X, “The world needs more great founders, and we are excited to bring together our communities to build something new.”

Additionally, offering a joint custody vault to safely retain the endowment funds will be unchained.

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Through events, guest lectures, and discussions aimed at informing the public about the advantages of Bitcoin and its ability to transform finance and education, the project intends to promote community involvement via cooperative marketing initiatives.

Emphasizing sound money ideas, opposition to censorship, and questioning the established quo, this project matches the basic goals of both Unchained and UATX.

Money or other financial assets contributed to academic institutions make up university endowments, which also serve as self-sustaining sources of support by purposefully not distributing the whole fund balance.

UATX is not the only American university investing in cryptocurrency; other institutions also participate. According to reports in March, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF has raised the Blyth Fund’s portfolio exposure to 7% BTC.

Ivy League schools, including Harvard, Yale, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have also experimented with crypto investments as early as 2018.

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