Billionaire Mark Cuban has sold most of his Bitcoin (BTC) while Harvard University's endowment sharply trimmed its cryptocurrency holdings, highlighting diverging strategies among prominent investors amid 2026 market weakness.
Mark Cuban Says 'Bitcoin Has Lost the Plot' as Harvard Fund Trims Exposure
22 May 2026 - 12:10 CEST
Cuban, best known as a longtime investor on ABC's reality television show Shark Tank and former majority owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, previously disclosed that Bitcoin represented roughly 60% of his crypto portfolio, with 30% in Ether (ETH) – the native token of the Ethereum blockchain that enables smart contracts and decentralised finance – and 10% in other assets.
In an interview aired on 20 May with Front Office Sports, Cuban said he sold "most" of his Bitcoin without specifying amounts. He expressed disappointment in its failure to act as a hedge during recent geopolitical tensions involving Iran and dollar movements.
"I think Bitcoin has lost the plot," Cuban said. "I always thought it was a better version of gold than gold. Well, gold just blew up and went to $5k. Bitcoin dropped."
"Every time the dollar dropped, Bitcoin should have gone up," he added. "Not the hedge I expected it to be, and that was really disappointing." He indicated greater positivity towards Ether but offered no details on his current position.
Diverging high-net-worth, endowment approaches
While Cuban, a high-net-worth individual, largely exited Bitcoin, institutional players showed mixed actions. Harvard Management Company (HMC) – the firm managing the Ivy League university’s roughly $56bn endowment – reduced exposure but retained a position.
Harvard endowment trims bets
HMC disclosed in Form 13F filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it cut holdings in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) – a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund that holds actual BTC – by 43%. It also fully liquidated its $86.8mn position in a BlackRock Ether ETF. The 16 May disclosure covers the first quarter of 2026.
HMC booked an estimated realised loss of around $150mn on these trades. As of 31 Mar, it still held approximately 3.04mn IBIT shares worth about $117mn. HMC first publicly disclosed crypto holdings in the second quarter of 2025, a move then viewed as validation for the sector among conservative institutions.
Market pressures, forward outlook
The cryptocurrency market faced challenges in early 2026. According to CoinGecko, total crypto market capitalization fell 20.4% in the first quarter, closing at $2.4tn. Bitcoin has traded below the $80k psychological level, near the estimated average cost basis for many institutional buyers from the prior year.
By contrast, Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala increased its IBIT stake by 16% to $566mn in the same quarter. Bitcoin spot ETFs have seen volatile flows overall, with periods of strong cumulative inflows since launch, despite recent pressure.
