The crypto world is buzzing with two significant developments that signal a broader shift in how institutions engage with digital assets. First, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission approved Victory Fintech as the first new crypto trading platform since June 2025. Second, Harvard’s endowment fund cut its Bitcoin ETF holdings by 21% while simultaneously entering Ethereum territory for the first time.
Hong Kong Opens Its Doors Again, Selectively
The crypto regulatory landscape in Asia just got a notable update. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) officially added Victory Fintech Company Limited to its list of licensed virtual asset trading platforms. The approval, recorded on a Friday, brings the total number of licensed crypto platforms in the city to 12. More significantly, it marks the first new addition to the SFC’s registry since June 2025, when the regulator approved Hong Kong BGE.
Victory Fintech is an affiliate of publicly listed financial services firm Victory Securities, which trades under stock code 8540 on the Hong Kong exchange. Furthermore, the authorization allows the firm to operate a regulated digital asset trading platform, expanding institutional-grade infrastructure for virtual assets in one of Asia’s most closely watched financial hubs. (Source: CoinMarketCap)
To fully understand the weight of this approval, it helps to look at the SFC’s track record. The commission has built a reputation as one of the strictest crypto regulators globally. Since 2024, unlicensed virtual asset trading platforms have faced criminal prosecution under Hong Kong law. As a direct result, many exchanges halted their local operations. Two of the biggest names in the industry, OKX and Bybit, actually withdrew their licensing applications in May 2024 rather than meet the SFC’s demanding compliance standards.
Nevertheless, the regime has attracted serious players. Hashkey Exchange and OSL Digital Securities were the first two platforms to receive full approval under the current framework, which was introduced in 2023. Since then, the SFC has added names slowly but deliberately. The inclusion of NYSE-listed Bullish, parent company of CoinDesk, is another sign that the regulator welcomes globally recognized and well-capitalized institutions. (Source: CoinTelegraph)
Moreover, the timing of Victory Fintech’s approval is notable for another reason. Just days before the announcement, the SFC said it would allow licensed brokers to provide virtual asset margin financing. Under the new guidance, only Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are eligible as collateral, at least initially. Additionally, the SFC outlined a framework for trading platforms to offer perpetual contracts, but only to professional investors. Together, these moves point to a calculated expansion of permitted activities for licensed platforms, rather than a wholesale opening of the market.
In January 2026, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, confirmed that regulators, including the SFC, are planning to submit a draft ordinance for providers offering crypto advisory services sometime this year. Consequently, the path ahead seems pointed toward measured expansion, not a flood of new approvals. (Source: TradingView)
As SFC CEO Julia Leung Fung-yee noted, “Virtual assets have become a tool in the race for financial supremacy.” That framing says a lot about where Hong Kong’s regulators stand. They are not trying to shut crypto out. Instead, they are building walls high enough to keep bad actors away while letting serious institutions in.
Victory Fintech’s Approval: A Signal, Not a Floodgate
The approval of Victory Fintech should not be read as a sudden loosening of the SFC’s standards. Rather, it demonstrates that the framework is functioning as intended. New entrants can still earn a spot on the registry, provided they meet rigorous operational, compliance, and investor-protection requirements.
In practice, the total number of approved platforms, now standing at 12, illustrates just how selective the process remains. Given that dozens of exchanges once operated in Hong Kong and many have since exited, the path to licensure is steep. Therefore, Victory Fintech’s success is a meaningful milestone both for the platform itself and for other firms considering whether to pursue an SFC license.
The broader crypto market, too, is watching. As of mid-February 2026, Bitcoin is trading near $68,600, down significantly from its all-time high of approximately $126,000 in October 2025. Even so, institutional appetite for compliant, regulated access to crypto assets remains strong. (Source: FinanceFeeds)
Harvard Trims Bitcoin, Enters Ethereum for the First Time
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, one of academia’s most prominent endowments is rebalancing its crypto portfolio in a way that reflects broader institutional thinking. Harvard Management Company (HMC), which oversees the university’s $56.9 billion endowment, filed a 13F report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. The filing revealed two key moves made during Q4 2025.
To begin with, HMC reduced its stake in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) by approximately 21%. Specifically, the endowment sold roughly 1.46 million shares, dropping from 6.81 million to 5.35 million shares. At December 31, 2025, the remaining position was valued at $265.8 million. Despite the reduction, Bitcoin remains Harvard’s single largest publicly disclosed holding, surpassing the endowment’s stakes in Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon. (Source: The Block)
At the same time, HMC opened a brand new position in BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), purchasing approximately 3.87 million shares valued at $86.8 million as of December 31. Notably, this marks the first time Harvard’s endowment has ever publicly disclosed exposure to an Ethereum-linked fund. Together, the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF holdings bring Harvard’s total disclosed crypto exposure to $352.6 million, or roughly 0.62% of the overall portfolio.
So, what drove these moves? The answer lies partly in market timing and partly in portfolio strategy. Bitcoin surged to roughly $126,000 in October 2025 before retreating to $88,429 by December 31. That represents a peak-to-trough decline of close to 30% within a single quarter. Ethereum, for its part, dropped about 28% over the same period. Given these conditions, HMC’s decision to reduce Bitcoin exposure while introducing Ethereum looks less like a retreat from crypto and more like a calculated reallocation aimed at managing concentration risk. (Source: Crypto Valley Journal)
In the prior quarter, HMC had actually increased its Bitcoin position by 257%, jumping from 1.91 million to 6.81 million IBIT shares. Therefore, the Q4 trim should be viewed in context: the endowment was pulling back from an aggressive accumulation phase, not abandoning the asset class altogether.
Institutional Voices Weigh In
Not everyone at Harvard is enthusiastic about the direction. Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, a professor of finance at UCLA, stated that the addition of Ethereum amplifies his concerns about the endowment’s digital asset strategy. He considers crypto to be an unproven asset class with unclear valuation methodology, adding that his prior skepticism toward Harvard’s Bitcoin investment had been validated by subsequent performance.
Similarly, Andrew F. Siegel, an emeritus professor of finance, described Bitcoin as “risky” and pointed to its “lack of intrinsic value” as a core concern. These academic critiques reflect a tension that institutions across the board are navigating: the clear demand for crypto exposure among institutional investors versus the volatility and valuation questions that remain unresolved.
Still, Harvard is not alone in this space. Yale was an early mover in crypto, having allocated to Andreessen Horowitz Crypto Fund and Paradigm VC as early as 2018. Emory University, Brown University, and the University of Texas at Austin have all disclosed Bitcoin ETF positions in recent filings. According to research firm MPI, digital assets contributed 200 to 300 basis points to top university endowment returns, a figure that is hard to ignore regardless of ideological reservations. (Source: Crypto Times)
In this context, Harvard’s decision to diversify into Ethereum reads as a maturation of its digital asset strategy rather than a speculative leap. The endowment is spreading volatile risk across two different crypto assets instead of concentrating it in one.
What Connects These Two Stories
On the surface, the Victory Fintech approval and Harvard’s portfolio rebalancing might seem like unrelated events. In reality, however, they are both expressions of the same underlying trend: institutional engagement with crypto is deepening, becoming more structured, and moving toward long-term frameworks rather than short-term bets.
Hong Kong’s SFC is building a regulated crypto ecosystem that can support institutional capital, with only Bitcoin and Ethereum eligible as margin collateral under the new financing rules. Harvard, for its part, is diversifying within crypto through products that are fully regulated, SEC-compliant, and managed by the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock.
In both cases, the message is consistent. Crypto is no longer a fringe conversation. It has entered the institutional mainstream, and the infrastructure around it, whether regulatory in Hong Kong or investment-grade ETFs in the United States, is being built to match that reality.
The coming months will reveal whether Victory Fintech can capitalize on its new license to serve retail and institutional clients in Hong Kong, and whether Harvard’s Ethereum bet pays off as the asset undergoes its own evolution, including the possibility of a staked Ethereum ETF after BlackRock filed an S-1 application with the SEC in December 2025. (Source: Bitcoin Ethereum News)
Either way, these two developments reinforce a clear narrative: the institutions shaping the future of finance are no longer asking whether to engage with crypto. They are simply deciding how.
Sources
- CoinMarketCap: Victory Fintech Wins Hong Kong Crypto License – https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/victory-fintech-wins-hong-kong-crypto-license
- CoinTelegraph: Hong Kong Regulator Adds Victory Fintech to List of Approved Trading Platforms – https://cointelegraph.com/news/victory-fintech-hong-kong-regulatory-approval
- TradingView/CoinTelegraph: Hong Kong Regulator Adds Victory Fintech – https://www.tradingview.com/news/cointelegraph:a86844489094b:0-hong-kong-regulator-adds-victory-fintech-to-list-of-approved-trading-platforms/
- FinanceFeeds: Hong Kong SFC Grants Crypto License to Victory Fintech – https://financefeeds.com/hong-kong-sfc-grants-crypto-license-to-victory-fintech/
- COINOTAG: Hong Kong SFC Licenses Victory Fintech: 12th Platform – https://en.coinotag.com/hong-kong-sfc-licenses-victory-fintech-12th-platform
- The Block: Harvard Trims Bitcoin ETF Holdings, Builds $87 Million Ether Position – https://www.theblock.co/post/389996/harvard-bitcoin-ether-etf-holdings
- Crypto Valley Journal: Harvard Cuts Bitcoin ETF Position by 21% and Buys Ethereum for the First Time – https://cryptovalleyjournal.com/hot-topics/news/harvard-cuts-bitcoin-etf-position-by-21-percent-and-buys-ethereum-for-the-first-time/
- The Crypto Times: Harvard Trims Bitcoin, Adds Ether ETF in $352M Crypto Shuffle – https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/02/16/harvard-trims-bitcoin-adds-ether-etf-in-352m-crypto-shuffle/
- Bitcoin Ethereum News: Harvard Cuts Bitcoin ETF Stake and Adds Ethereum to Portfolio – https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/bitcoin/harvard-cuts-bitcoin-etf-stake-and-adds-ethereum-to-portfolio/
- Crypto.news: Harvard Rebalances Crypto Exposure: Trims Bitcoin, Buys Into Ether ETF – https://crypto.news/harvard-rebalances-crypto-trims-bitcoin-buys-ether-etf/
