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A Spanish research institute is set to cash in on a forgotten $10,000 Bitcoin buy from 2012 that’s surged 1,000x to $10 million
The Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies (ITER), run by the Tenerife Island Council, acquired 97 BTC over a decade ago as part of a blockchain research project, according to a report by the Spanish-language newspaper El Día.
Tenerife’s innovation councillor Juan José Martínez said the council is now finalizing plans for the sale with an approved Spanish financial institution. Proceeds will fund new ITER research, including work on quantum technologies.
Research Institute’s Bitcoin Stash Skyrockets 100,000%
Bitcoin’s price has soared since 2012, leaving the institute with a 100,000% increase on its investment.
In early October, when Bitcoin’s price reached a new all-time high (ATH) around $126,198, the stash was worth more than $12.2 million.
Institute’s Bitcoin Buy Wasn’t An Investment
Martínez told the news outlet that the 2012 purchase was never meant as an investment but rather as part of an experimental project aimed at understanding Bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology.
More specifically, a computing team at ITER explored how the Bitcoin mining process works.
“It was one of the numerous research projects ITER has undertaken to explore and experiment with new technological systems,” Martínez said.
ITER is currently working with a Spanish financial institution that is authorized by the Bank of Spain and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) to facilitate the Bitcoin sale.
Martinez said he expects the transaction to be completed in the coming months.
Major US Academic Institutions Invest In Bitcoin
While ITER has said that its Bitcoin purchase was not meant to be an investment, other major academic institutions have started to invest in the largest crypto by market cap.
Harvard Management Company, which oversees the university’s $50 billion endowment, disclosed a $116 million position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in one of its recent quarterly filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Did You Know?
Harvard University’s portfolio holds more Bitcoin ETFs than Google stocks. pic.twitter.com/iiPWbEr2Cq
— Bitinning (@bitinning) September 19, 2025
The investment gives Harvard indirect exposure to Bitcoin’s price movements through BlackRock’s regulated spot BTC ETF (exchange-traded fund). It’s also one of the university’s top five publicly disclosed equity positions, behind Microsoft, Amazon, Booking Holdings, and Meta.
Harvard’s investment came after US spot Bitcoin ETFs received the regulatory green light for launch in 2024. They have since attracted billions of dollars in investment, and give traditional investors a familiar vehicle to gain BTC exposure.
Of those ETFs, BlackRock’s IBIT has been the most popular, and has attracted $63.34 billion in cumulative inflows thus far, according to data from Farside Investors.
US spot Bitcoin ETF flows (Source: Farside Investors)
Brown University also reported that it held approximately $4.19 million worth of IBIT shares as of the middle of this year. Earlier this year, the University of Austin in Texas announced a dedicated $5 million “bitcoin fund” within its endowment. The proceeds will be held in BTC for a minimum of five years.
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