Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo increased its crypto exposure to $235 million while adding ETH and XRP-linked products.
Bitcoin News
Italy's largest bank by assets, Intesa Sanpaolo, expanded its crypto holdings from roughly $100 million at the end of 2025 to approximately $235 million by March 31, 2026. The figures were reported by Italian crypto outlet Criptovaluta(dot)it. The expansion covered new asset classes and the bank's first use of crypto derivatives.
Intesa added to existing positions in both the ARK 21Shares BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) and BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF during Q1. It also entered Ethereum (ETH) for the first time through BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust. A new position in the Grayscale XRP Trust ETF gave the bank its first exposure to XRP (XRP), valued at approximately $26 million.
First Derivatives Trade and Near-Total Solana Exit
The bank also opened a position in iShares Bitcoin Trust call options, marking its first derivatives trade in the crypto space. Intesa had previously confirmed to Criptovaluta(dot)it that its crypto holdings are held for proprietary trading purposes. It has not disclosed whether any of those positions also serve as hedges for products offered to professional clients.
Intesa moved in the opposite direction on Solana (SOL), cutting its stake in the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF from 266,320 shares to 2,817. The near-total exit came after SOL had been a prominent holding during the prior quarter. No reason for the reduction was disclosed.
On the equities side, the bank added 165,600 shares of BitGo for the first time and closed its position in Bitmine entirely. It also exited put options on Strategy, trimmed its stake in Cantor Equity Partners II, and raised its Coinbase shareholding from 1,500 to 10,357 shares. Cantor Equity Partners II is the vehicle through which tokenization firm Securitize is set to list.
Ripple announced last month that it would provide custody services to Intesa, deepening the bank's ties to the digital asset sector. Intesa shares closed at 5.74 euros ($6.35) on May 16, down 1.56% on the day and off 3.14% year-to-date, according to Yahoo Finance.
A broader shift is underway across European institutionalbanking. Spain's BBVA, France's BPCE, and Belgium's KBC all have live retail crypto trading services. A consortium of 12 European banks, including BNP Paribas, ING, UniCredit, and Deutsche Bank, formed a group called Qivalis to issue a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA)-compliant euro-backed stablecoin, targeting a launch in the second half of 2026.
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