New University of Austin to Add $5 Million in Bitcoin to Endowment

The University of Austin, a new higher education institution in Texas will admit its first four-year undergraduate students this fall, and announced on Tuesday a plan to raise a $5 million bitcoin fund to be held in its $200 million long-term endowment.

The school has been touted as an antidote to “woke” thinking that some charge has stifled non-liberal voices in academia. Since its 2021 founding, it has offered several of what it called “forbidden courses,” such as one on “sexual politics” that a course description said would go beyond “standard feminist texts.” The university is currently seeking full accreditation from the US Department of Education, a process that UATX says could take five to seven years. The university has certification in the state of Texas to grant degrees.

The university, which has a $200 million endowment, intends to partner with Unchained, a cryptocurrency financial services company, to hold custody of the institution’s digital assets.

In opting for bitcoin investments, the University of Austin is going against a lot of conventional wisdom among allocators. Institutional investors have been cautious about investing in crypto, with a few outliers such as the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which recently bought $164 million worth of two bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

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For the University of Austin, committed proceeds to the bitcoin allocation would be held for at least five years. Unchained CEO and co-founder Joseph Kelly donated two bitcoins (roughly $140,000) to kick off the school’s crypto allocation. The university endowment has accepted cryptocurrency for donations and has a fundraising goal of $250 million by the fall of 2024, when UATX plans to enroll its first students.

“University endowments are about serving students, and bitcoin provides a unique opportunity for advancing UATX’s commitment to cultivating future generations of leaders and innovators,” said Thomas Hogan, incoming associate professor, at UATX in a press release.