Italy's largest bank Q1 crypto holdings rise to $235 million, first allocation to Ethereum and XRP

Odaily reported that Italy's largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, increased its crypto-related holdings from approximately $100 million at the end of 2025 to about $235 million in the first quarter of 2026.

Among the changes, the bank increased its holdings in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and BlackRock's IBIT, and allocated to Ethereum assets for the first time through the BlackRock iShares Staked Ethereum Trust. It also added a new position of approximately $26 million in the Grayscale XRP Trust ETF.

Additionally, Intesa established its first IBIT call option position, added 165,600 shares of BitGo stock, and fully liquidated its Bitmine-related holdings. Meanwhile, its Solana-related allocation was significantly reduced, with the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF position dropping from 266,300 shares to 2,817 shares.

According to reports, Intesa has previously confirmed that these crypto assets are primarily used for proprietary trading. Last month, Ripple also announced that it would provide digital asset custody services for the bank. (Cointelegraph)