Italy's largest bank increased its cryptocurrency holdings to $235 million in Q1, marking the first allocation of Ethereum and XRP

Italy's largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo will increase its holdings related to crypto assets from approximately $100 million at the end of 2025 to about $235 million in the first quarter of 2026. Among these, the bank has increased its holdings in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and BlackRock's IBIT, and for the first time allocated Ethereum assets through BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, while also adding approximately $26 million in Grayscale XRP Trust ETF holdings.

In addition, Intesa has established a bullish options position in IBIT for the first time and added 165,600 shares of BitGo stock, while completely liquidating its positions related to Bitmine. Its related holdings in Solana have been significantly reduced, with Bitwise Solana Staking ETF holdings decreasing from 266,300 shares to 2,817 shares. Reports indicate that Intesa has previously confirmed that the related crypto assets are primarily used for proprietary trading. Last month, Ripple also announced that it would provide digital asset custody services for the bank.