Harvard’s Endowment Makes Historic First Move Into Gold

Quick overview

Founded in the mid-1970s, Harvard Management Company (HMC) has entered the gold market for the first time ever. If other institutional funds follow HMC’s lead, it could serve as a significant catalyst for the gold market.

Gold has gained 25% so far this year, adding to strong rallies in 2024, repeatedly hitting record highs. However, in recent months it has stalled at these levels, awaiting a catalyst to continue its upward trajectory.

The move has sparked intense discussion, with some market observers highlighting its historical significance. In the second quarter, HMC purchased shares of the SPDR Gold Shares ETF, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, for $101.5 million. The fund also acquired 1.906 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), valued at roughly $117 million. An analysis of its holdings shows that gold and bitcoin now represent 15% of its listed securities portfolio combined. By comparison, at the end of last year, HMC reported just a 3% exposure to real assets, with less than 1% in natural resources.

If other public pension and endowment funds—whose global assets reached a record $58.5 trillion last year, according to WTW’s Thinking Ahead Institute—follow suit, it could be transformative for both the gold and cryptocurrency markets. The institute’s 2025 report notes that pension and endowment funds hold an average allocation of 45% in equities, 33% in bonds, 20% in other assets, and 2% in cash.

Why This is not Common – Gold as an Asset

These funds typically operate with a very long-term horizon, investing in long-duration bonds, private equity, and private credit, which can tie up capital for decades. Short-term market momentum is rarely a priority, and alternative assets have historically received minimal attention. That’s why HMC’s move has piqued the interest of analysts, raising questions about what they see in the global economy that makes gold an attractive investment now.

Although gold has a long history of outperforming equity markets, pension and endowment funds have traditionally avoided it due to its complexity. Experts note that while fund managers recognize the importance of portfolio diversification, they have historically rejected gold as a diversification tool, despite its low-risk returns and ability to reduce portfolio Sharpe ratios, because its valuation is considered challenging.

This concern has been voiced repeatedly over the last decade. As one fund manager bluntly explained, despite gold’s impressive performance this year, “if it doesn’t have EBITDA, we don’t buy it.”

Gold is a non-yielding asset, and its value cannot be measured the same way as a stock or bond. This has traditionally been a risk that public fund managers were unwilling to take—until now.

HMC’s move raises expectations of a potential domino effect. According to the latest 13F filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Harvard Management Company purchased 333,000 shares of SPDR Gold Shares, valued at $101.5 million, marking its historic entry into the gold market.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More

Ignacio Teson

Economist and Financial Analyst

Ignacio Teson is an Economist and Financial Analyst. He has more than 7 years of experience in emerging markets. He worked as an analyst and market operator at brokerage firms in Argentina and Spain.

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