- Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo reveals that it doubled its crypto exposure in the first quarter of the year.
- The bank bought XRP for the first time, accumulating coins worth $26 million at current prices.
Intesa Sanpaolo has reportedly doubled its crypto exposure in the first quarter of this year. The €1 trillion bank is Italy’s largest, and the latest increase makes it the largest publicly disclosed bank crypto allocator in Europe. It increased its exposure from approximately $100 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 to about $235 million in the first quarter of this year.
The bank, for the first time, added ETH and XRP to its holdings while reducing its exposure to SOL. Notably, the bank does not hold the coins directly but relies on ETFs and trusts to manage its crypto portfolio. Its Bitcoin position is held via numerous Bitcoin ETFs, Ethereum’s position is facilitated by iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, XRP through Grayscale XRP Trust, and Solana through the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF.
Previously, the bank had been restrained, but it was clear that its entry into the crypto space and rapid expansion into XRP and Ethereum were in preparation for institutional demand.
In addition to buying into the tokens, the bank has been experimenting with the underlying technology. Since 2017, the bank has been testing key initiatives such as tokenization, digital custody, and more. The bank is using R3’s Corda platform, a permissioned distributed application platform, for trade finance and syndicated loan operations.
European Companies Lead Crypto Adoption
Intesa Sanpaolo is not alone in this; the European bloc is stepping up after recognizing the massive opportunity crypto presents. Germany’s Deutsche Bank is one of the most notable entrants. The bank has recently applied for a digital asset custody license in the country. The bank is also strategically invested in several blockchain ventures and is exploring launching its own blockchain infrastructure.
Both Intesa Sanpaolo and Deutsche Bank are in a race for the commercial issuance of corporate stablecoins and tokenized deposits. French bank Société Générale has also been active, recently launching its own euro stablecoin through its Forge division.
These banks have made these strides due to clearer rules by the EU. The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation has made it comfortable for these banks to build and launch blockchain-related products. Critically, they have encouraged institutional investors to engage in what was a highly opaque sector. As ETHNews reported, the Cardano Foundation has called on the EU to clarify further and ease up on compliance to avoid constraining growth.
At the time of writing, XRP, which was the biggest winner of the Intesa Sanpaolo revelation, is trading for $1.41. In the past week, XRP spot ETFs recorded net inflows of nearly $60.5 million. However, the fifth-ranked coin has been trading in a tight range.
