Portfolio Construction

Harvard’s Q3 2025 increase in Bitcoin exposure — now reported at $443M — is a watershed for endowments, testing governance, custody, and the precedent for other institutions. This feature unpacks the allocation’s scale versus gold, fiduciary risks, operational hurdles, likely copycat behavior, and market impact on BTC liquidity and volatility.

Tokenized gold’s $3 billion milestone signals a maturing market for digital commodities. This primer breaks down product types (PAXG, XAUT), institutional drivers, custody and legal risks, and practical due diligence for integrating tokenized metals into portfolios.