Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank, more than doubled its crypto exposure in the first quarter of 2026, with holdings climbing from approximately $100 million at the end of 2025 to around $235 million as of March 31.
The growth was driven by expanded Bitcoin positions, with the bank adding to positions in both the ARK 21Shares BTC ETF and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF. It also entered Ethereum for the first time through BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, and picked up a fresh stake in Ripple’s XRP via the Grayscale XRP Trust ETF, worth approximately $26 million, according to a report by local crypto outlet Criptovaluta.it.
Intesa also opened a new position in iShares Bitcoin Trust call options, its first derivatives play in the space. The bank previously confirmed to Criptovaluta.it that its crypto positions are held for proprietary trading purposes, though it has not disclosed whether any of the assets are also used to hedge products offered to professional clients, the report said.
Source: Criptovaluta.it
On the other hand, the bank reduced its Solana holdings, which had featured prominently in the prior quarter. Its position in the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF slashed from 266,320 shares to just 2,817, a near-total exit.
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Intesa adds BitGo, dumps Bitmine
On the equities side, the bank made several adjustments to its crypto stock holdings. It added 165,600 shares of BitGo for the first time, while dumping the Bitmine position. The bank also closed out its put options on Strategy and trimmed its stake in Cantor Equity Partners II, the vehicle through which tokenization firm Securitize is set to list. Coinbase shares also increased from 1,500 to 10,357.
The moves come as Intesa deepens its ties to the digital asset sector. Last month, Ripple announced it would offer its custody services to the Italian banking group.
Intesa shares closed at 5.74 euros on Friday, down 1.56% on the day and off 3.14% year-to-date, according to Yahoo! Finance.
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European banks expand crypto offerings
More European banks are moving into crypto, with Spain’s BBVA, France’s BPCE and Belgium’s KBC among those already live with retail trading services. BBVA became the first major Spanish bank to offer 24/7 Bitcoin and Ether trading through its mobile app, while BPCE launched in-app crypto trading via regulated subsidiary Hexarq, targeting 12 million customers by 2026.
At the infrastructure level, a consortium of 12 major European banks, including BNP Paribas, ING, UniCredit and Deutsche Bank, formed Qivalis to issue a MiCA-compliant euro-backed stablecoin, targeting a launch in the second half of 2026.
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