The Italian bank has invested in five spot Bitcoin ETFs, with positions in ARK 21Shares and iShares Bitcoin Trust.
Intesa Sanpaolo has disclosed $96 million in Bitcoin ETF holdings and a substantial position in options tied to Strategy shares. The disclosure emerged in the 13F filing for the quarter ended December 2025.
The Italian bank holds five positions in spot Bitcoin ETFs, including $72.6 million in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and $23.4 million in the iShares Bitcoin Trust, for a total exposure of just over $96 million. It also includes a $4.3 million stake in the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, which tracks Solana‘s price and captures staking rewards.
Intesa Sanpaolo has also registered a large put position on Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder with 717,131 BTC on its balance sheet. The put option gives the bank the opportunity to sell MSTR shares at a specific price in the future. This position, combined with the directionally long position on Bitcoin ETFs, could reflect a strategy to capitalize on the fact that Strategy was trading above the value of its BTC reserves, measured by the net asset value multiple (mNAV).
The filing also shows equity holdings in crypto-related companies, including Coinbase, Robinhood, BitMine and ETHZilla. These are minor positions, with the largest being approximately $4.4 million in Circle. The document uses the “DFND” (Shared-Defined) designation, indicating that investment decisions were made jointly by Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. and affiliated asset managers. Earlier last year, Intesa Sanpaolo had purchased 11 bitcoins for over $1 million.
