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Italian banking giant Intesa Sanpaolo has sharply accelerated its digital strategy. According to the latest 13F filing submitted to the SEC, the institution led by Carlo Messina now holds direct exposure of over $96 million in spot Bitcoin ETFs. This is an impressive leap in scale compared to the mere €1 million "test" conducted at the beginning of 2025.
The allocation is strategically distributed among the main US regulated instruments, with dominant positions in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (approximately $72.6 million) and BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ($23.4 million).
Proprietary Trading and Hedging Strategies
However, the operation is not limited to just Bitcoin. The document reveals a complex financial structure that includes:
Put options on Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy): An underlying value of $184.6 million, interpreted by analysts as a hedging strategy against the volatility of Michael Saylor's stock.
Exposure to Solana: Approximately $4 million allocated in SOL-linked ETFs (such as the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF).
Related Stocks: Additional holdings in crypto-sector equities.
Sources close to the institution and analysis by Criptovaluta.it clarify that this is not a direct offering to small savers: these holdings are attributable to proprietary trading activities of the IMI Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) division.
The Domino Effect on the Italian Banking System
The shift from last year's 11 "experimental" Bitcoins to today's overall $280 million marks the end of the exploratory phase. For the Italian market, this move represents definitive institutional legitimization: if the country's leading bank integrates such assets into its balance sheets, a domino effect among other major national banking groups is likely.
While operations currently remain confined to internal desks, the creation of such massive custody and trading infrastructure paves the way for the next step: opening up structured products to Private clientele and, in the medium term, to the Retail sector, transforming Bitcoin from a speculative asset into a standard component of the modern banking portfolio.
