Finance

Harvard Officially Has Too Much Money

Even Princeton isn't vainglorious enough to mess with crypto.

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The question has been asked before by activists who see elite universities as ivory towers built on stacks of money, designed to admit only those who can add to the ongoing construction with wealth of their own: How much is too much money for a college endowment to hold?

Well, today we have an answer. It’s about $39 billion:

Harvard University’s endowment is backing Blockstack Inc., a crypto-company that seeks to hold a $50 million digital-token offering.

Blockstack said in a regulatory filing Thursday that Charlie Saravia, a managing director at Harvard Management Co., is a representative on an advisory committee it formed for the sale of tokens. Harvard Management and two other investors have already purchased about 95.8 million of the company’s tokens valued at about $11.5 million, according to the filing.

“Harvard Gets Into Crypto” is like what would happen if you let stoners in a rhythm stick circle at a Bernie Sanders rally play MadLibs. It’s self-satire made real. Is Harvard really so overcapitalized that it can take money meant to power the university’s future (by offering scholarships and modernizing facilities) and just throw it at a crypto scheme? And one openly looking for a mark to get it over the top?

Most institutional money managers have shunned the largely unregulated digital assets, deterred by concerns about money laundering and market manipulation. While some argue crypto is not ready for institutional prime time, crypto bulls have been hoping deep-pocketed buyers enter the market to help depressed prices rally.

Blockstack’s offering will support the development of its decentralized computing network, which uses the digital currency.

Apparently, the answer is “You betcha!”

Don’t tell the guy who runs this joint, but Harvard has too much money.

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Harvard Takes the Plunge Into Crypto With a Token Sale Investment [Bloomberg]

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