Italian banking giant Intesa Sanpaolo revealed its participation in the spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) market. According to a recent 13F filing with US regulators, the institution, which has around €1.5 trillion in client assets, revealed holdings of these investment vehicles. This is in the order of 96 million dollars at the end of 2025. This movement positions the entity as one of the European banking players with the greatest exposure to bitcoin. This although indirectly, through regulated financial products, such as ETFs that are traded in the US. The Italian bank’s investment portfolio is mainly divided between four issuers. He has $72.6 million in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, $23.4 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust. They also have investments in other bitcoin ETFs: $48 in the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF and $66,500 between the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF and Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF. This is seen in the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The document reveals Intesa Sanpaolo’s investments until the end of last year. Source: SEC. In addition to its focus on bitcoin ETFs, the bank reported a investment of 4.3 million dollars in the solana ETF issued by the Bitwise firm. This diversification shows a growing interest in alternative digital assets that allow yields to be captured through network consensus mechanisms. In this case, through staking. A relevant aspect of the report is the position in put options on Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin globally. The bank registered a position valued at 184.6 million dollars in these derivatives.
This maneuver, combined with holding bitcoin ETFs, could be a bank arbitrage strategy to capitalize the difference between the share price and the company’s net asset value. The filing also details minority stakes in companies in the cryptocurrency sector. Including the American exchange Coinbase, with 347 million dollars. Also, the issuing firm of the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), Circle, where it maintains close to 4.4 million dollars. Although it has not been clarified whether the funds belong to its own treasury or to institutional clients, the magnitude of the investment marks a milestone in traditional European banking. The latter, which has been more conservative regarding this type of financial assets. However, it is not the first time that Intesa Sanpaolo has gotten involved with the bitcoin ecosystem. Last year, BitcoinDynamic reported that this bank acquired 11 bitcoin. An investment that, in January 2025, was 1 million euros. These holdings remain in the name of the financial institution, with a value that is now equivalent to 624,000 euros.
