London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

Duke University’s Early Investment in Coinbase Is Now Likely Worth $500M

Duke University’s Early Investment in Coinbase Is Now Likely Worth $500M

Duke’s direct exposure to Coinbase in one of its early investment rounds has probably increased 100x, two people familiar with the matter said.

The endowment fund of Duke University, the alma mater of Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, was one of the fortunate few to have made an early investment in the soon-to-list cryptocurrency exchange, CoinDesk has learned.

Two people familiar with the matter said the $3.9 billion Duke Endowment was included early on in the cap table of Coinbase, which is expected to command a price tag of around $100 billion when its shares debut on Nasdaq. Those shares are now worth a small fortune, on the order of nine figures, the sources said.

“The Duke University endowment has direct Coinbase exposure because Fred [Ehrsam] approached Duke for one of the early rounds,” said a source who was part of the venture capital community at that time. “They probably 100x’d their money, after dilution. So even if they only put in $5 million, they just made $500 million, which is a lot for an endowment.”

Coinbase declined to comment. Duke Endowment did not immediately return requests for comment.

The VC veteran said it was most likely the 2015 Series C round in which Duke participated. CoinDesk was unable to confirm the exact size of the investment.

University endowments have long been seen as a leading indicator of the institutional stampede into crypto investing. While the Duke investment was at a remove from the assets themselves, the bet on what has become a key piece of market infrastructure appears to have paid off handsomely.

In 2015, Coinbase raised $75 million as part of a Series C funding round backed by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), USAA, Spanish bank BBVA and Japanese telco DoCoMo. The exchange’s 2017 Series D round raised $100 million from Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Battery Ventures, Draper Associates, Greylock Partners, Section 32 and Spark Capital.

“By virtue of having been successful in crypto, these early investors are now believers,” the VC source, who was not authorized to speak about the investment on the record, told CoinDesk. “It’s like, ‘Hey, this thing actually worked.’ And so I suspect a lot of that money gets recycled back into crypto.”

Indeed, Duke’s approach may even be on the cautious side. In January, CoinDesk reported Ivy League colleges including Harvard and Yale had been buying cryptocurrency directly from Coinbase over the past year, prior to the current bull run.Read more: Harvard, Yale, Brown Endowments Have Been Buying Bitcoin for at Least a Year: Sources

In the case of North Carolina-based Duke, crypto and blockchain have been in the blood of the college for quite some time. Indeed, Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, teaches a course that now covers decentralized finance (DeFi).

Professor Harvey said Ersham was a recent speaker in his course; the star alumnus first came in and talked about Coinbase the first year Harvey ran the course back in 2014.

Harvey said he could not talk about the Duke endowment specifically, but said he has been a longtime advocate of investing in early-stage startups for university endowments.

“University endowments often have a very long time horizon, so it’s not unusual to have a greater than average exposure to early stage ventures,” said Harvey. “They are looking for that 100x.”

Source: Fintechs.fi

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×