Intesa Sanpaolo Doubles Crypto Holdings with XRP, ETH
Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank, more than doubled its crypto-related investment exposure in the first quarter. The bank’s crypto exposure increased to about $235 million at the end of March from roughly $100 million at the end of 2025.
Its portfolio shift shows a more selective approach to crypto exposure. Intesa increased Bitcoin positions and added Ether and XRP, while almost removing Solana from its disclosed ETF portfolio.
Most of the increase came from a bigger Bitcoin allocation. Intesa raised its holdings of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) and BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT).
The bank also made its first Ether investment through BlackRock’s staking Ether ETF (ETHB). It added a new XRP position worth about $26 million through Grayscale’s spot XRP ETF.
Intesa also entered its first crypto derivatives trade by buying call options on Bitcoin ETFs.
Moreover, the bank moved away from Solana during the same quarter. Its Bitwise Solana Staking ETF position reportedly fell from 266,320 shares to 2,817, marking a near-total exit.
The bank also changed its crypto-related stock portfolio. Intesa bought 165,600 shares of BitGo and fully exited its BitMine investment.
It also closed its put-option position in Strategy and trimmed part of its investment tied to the listing of tokenisation company Securitise. Its Coinbase holdings increased to 10,357 shares from 1,500 shares.
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