Intesa Sanpaolo’s crypto portfolio is no longer a small side note on a bank balance sheet.
Italy’s largest bank more than doubled its crypto-related exposure in the first quarter, lifting reported holdings to about $235 million as of March 31 from roughly $100 million at the end of 2025. The increase was led by larger bitcoin positions through regulated market products, including the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.
The Q1 snapshot also shows a broader mix than the bank carried three months earlier. Intesa added ether exposure for the first time through BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) Trust and opened a new XRP (CRYPTO: $XRP) position through the Grayscale XRP Trust, which was valued at about $26 million in the report.
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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) remained the main anchor, but the bank also added a new position in call options tied to BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF. That gave Intesa a derivatives layer around its bitcoin exposure, while keeping the activity inside listed products rather than a large direct-token balance.
Solana (CRYPTO: $SOL) exposure moved sharply lower. Intesa cut its Bitwise Solana Staking ETF position from 266,320 shares to 2,817 shares, leaving only a small remaining stake after carrying a much larger position at the end of 2025.
The bank also adjusted its crypto-linked equity book. It added BitGo (NYSE: $BTGO) shares for the first time, increased its Coinbase (NASDAQ: $COIN) position from 1,500 shares to 10,357 shares and exited Bitmine. The changes come after Ripple said in April that Intesa Sanpaolo was using Ripple Custody to support its digital asset initiatives.
The portfolio is still modest beside Intesa’s wider banking business, but the direction is clear enough. One of Europe’s largest traditional lenders is building crypto exposure through ETFs, trusts, options and infrastructure-linked equities, rather than treating digital assets as a one-off bitcoin trade.
Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. (BIT: $ISP) last closed at €5.74 per share.
