The Yale Investments Office has joined a small but growing roster of institutional investors that are bullish on cryptocurrency funds.
According to a Bloomberg report released earlier this month, Yale has invested in two Silicon Valley cryptocurrency funds: Paradigm and a16z crypto. Both venture funds were established only recently and plan to invest in cryptocurrency assets and digital currencies, according to their websites.
Following a spectacular ascent in 2017, the cryptocurrency market has stumbled this year. The price of Bitcoin, the best-known of the cryptocurrencies, has fallen more than 50 percent in 2018.
“Cryptocurrency is an area of technology that appears to be useful and appears to have a future, with big banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan already investing heavily,” Charles Skorina, an investment executive recruiter, told the Yale Daily News.
“It does not surprise me that [Yale’s investment in cryptocurrency] has received so much publicity,” Skorina added. “Because of Yale’s impressive track record, everybody would like to know what Yale is doing. If Yale is investing in cryptocurrency, then others will invest as well.”
Headed since 1985 by Chief Investment Officer David F. Swensen, the Yale Investments Office has historically posted returns at or near the top of the class or major university investment arms. During Swensen’s tenure Yale’s endowment has skyrocketed from $3 billion to more than $29.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30.
