Italy's Largest Bank Dumps Bitcoin, Triples Staked Ethereum Holdings

Italy's largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, has made significant changes to its cryptocurrency portfolio. In its latest second-quarter Form 13F filing, the bank revealed that it had reduced its holdings in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) by almost 94%, cutting its position from 646,809 shares to just 40,723 shares.

The bank also significantly reduced its bullish Bitcoin call options, decreasing the position by 99.3%. Interestingly, Intesa Sanpaolo took out a new put option position tied to 500,000 IBIT shares, indicating that it is using hedging strategies instead of taking only bullish bets.

While cutting its Bitcoin exposure, the bank almost tripled its investment in the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF. Its holdings increased from 116,200 shares to 349,600 shares, adding roughly $5.6 million in Ethereum exposure.