Italy’s Largest Bank Adds Bitcoin, Eth and XRP Exposure in Q1

CryptoProwl

Sun, May 17, 2026 astatine 1:31 PM CDT 2 min read

Intesa Sanpaolo’s crypto portfolio is nary longer a tiny broadside enactment connected a slope equilibrium sheet.

Italy’s largest slope much than doubled its crypto-related vulnerability successful the archetypal quarter, lifting reported holdings to astir $235 cardinal arsenic of March 31 from astir $100 cardinal astatine the extremity of 2025. The summation was led by larger bitcoin positions done regulated marketplace products, including the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.

The Q1 snapshot besides shows a broader premix than the slope carried 3 months earlier. Intesa added ether vulnerability for the archetypal clip done BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) Trust and opened a caller XRP (CRYPTO: $XRP) presumption done the Grayscale XRP Trust, which was valued astatine astir $26 cardinal successful the report.

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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) remained the main anchor, but the slope besides added a caller presumption successful telephone options tied to BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF. That gave Intesa a derivatives furniture astir its bitcoin exposure, portion keeping the enactment wrong listed products alternatively than a ample direct-token balance.

Solana (CRYPTO: $SOL) vulnerability moved sharply lower. Intesa chopped its Bitwise Solana Staking ETF presumption from 266,320 shares to 2,817 shares, leaving lone a tiny remaining involvement aft carrying a overmuch larger presumption astatine the extremity of 2025.

The slope besides adjusted its crypto-linked equity book. It added BitGo (NYSE: $BTGO) shares for the archetypal time, accrued its Coinbase (NASDAQ: $COIN) presumption from 1,500 shares to 10,357 shares and exited Bitmine. The changes travel aft Ripple said successful April that Intesa Sanpaolo was utilizing Ripple Custody to enactment its integer plus initiatives.

The portfolio is inactive humble beside Intesa’s wider banking business, but the absorption is wide enough. One of Europe’s largest accepted lenders is gathering crypto vulnerability done ETFs, trusts, options and infrastructure-linked equities, alternatively than treating integer assets arsenic a one-off bitcoin trade.

Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. (BIT: $ISP) past closed astatine €5.74 per share.