Intesa Sanpaolo Bets Big on Ethereum Amid Bitcoin Outflows

Italy's largest banking group, Intesa Sanpaolo, has made significant changes to its U.S. crypto ETF portfolio in Q2 2026.

The bank drastically decreased its direct exposure to Bitcoin through BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), dropping its stake from 648,923 shares in Q1 2026 to just 40,723 shares, a 93.7% decrease.

This cut was accompanied by a sharp decline in the bank's exposure through IBIT call options, with the underlying share equivalent dropping 99.3%, from roughly 2.75 million shares to just 18,000 shares.

However, Intesa revealed a new put option position worth 500,000 IBIT shares, indicating that it either put in place downside protection or adopted a more intricate options strategy instead of continuing to be openly bullish.