Intesa Sanpaolo Reveals Significant Bitcoin Holdings
Intesa Sanpaolo, a prominent Italian bank, recently reported holding $96 million in Bitcoin ETFs, along with notable options tied to various strategy stocks and a few smaller cryptocurrency investments.
In its filing for the quarter ending December 2025, the bank detailed five spot Bitcoin ETF positions. Among these, it holds $72.6 million in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and $23.4 million in the iShares Bitcoin Trust, leading to an overall exposure exceeding $96 million.
Additionally, the bank has a $4.3 million investment in the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, which is linked to the performance of Solana, including staking rewards.
Importantly, Intesa also has a substantial put option position in Strategy, the largest institutional holder of Bitcoin, which currently has 714,644 BTC on its balance sheet, valued around $184.6 million.
This put option essentially allows the bank to sell MSTR stock at a predetermined price in the future, though it’s not obligated to do so. Coupled with long positions in Bitcoin ETFs, this might indicate trading dynamics where companies are valued higher than their actual Bitcoin holdings, assessed by a metric called net asset value (mNAV).
Strategy, for instance, was believed to be trading at a mNAV of 2.9 at one point but has now dropped to 1.21. If the stock price aligns more closely with the value of its Bitcoin holdings, the bank’s position could recently become more financially advantageous.
The filing also lists minor stakes in various crypto-related firms such as Coinbase and Robinhood, with the most significant investment being around $4.4 million in Circle.
The report references “DFND” (Shared-Defined), suggesting a joint investment decision made by Intesa Sanpaolo and its associated asset management firm. It’s still uncertain whether these asset managers are from Intesa’s trading desks or independent institutional investors.
This kind of setup is fairly common, especially when a subsidiary conducts transactions while the parent bank oversees operations. CoinDesk attempted to get a comment from Intesa Sanpaolo but had no response at the time of writing.
Interestingly, the bank’s U.S. asset management branch filed a separate report indicating it has no exposure to any digital assets.
Back in early 2022, Intesa Sanpaolo made headlines when it purchased 11 Bitcoins for over $1 million. The bank has maintained its own trading desk for some time and is also involved in cryptocurrency trading activities.
