Intesa Sanpaolo, an Italian international banking group, has reportedly doubled its crypto stakes. According to Cryptocurrency.it the banking group has now invested in Ripple’s XRP through Grayscale’s ETF.
As of March 31, 2026, the banking group owns 712,319 shares of Grayscale XRP TR ETF, currently worth approximately $26 million.
Crypto betting from Intesa Sanpaolo
That said, in the fourth quarter of 2025 Intesa Sanpaolo had already declared positions in several US-listed ETFs, including Bitcoin [BTC]Ethereum [ETH]and Solana [SOL]through various ETFs.
For background, about $100 million had already been invested in various Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana ETFs.
At current prices, exposure has increased from approximately $100 million for the final quarter of 2025 to approximately $235 million. However, Banca Intesa also noted that as of now, the crypto holdings are for proprietary trading purposes only.
This means that the banking group holds the asset for its own internal trading activities and not yet on behalf of customers.
Giving up Solana and more
Amid this positive momentum, Intesa Sanpaolo has reduced its exposure to Solana. This could be due to the fact that Solana price has failed to find bullish momentum.
Solana was under selling pressure for the most part in the first quarter of 2026, as AMBCrypto previously reported. That said, SOL fell from around $124 at the start of the year to $81 at the end of March 2026.
However, with the arrival of Ethereum and its deployment, the overall sentiment of the Italian banking group seems positive.
Furthermore, Intesa Sanpaolo also owned a number of cryptocurrency stocks as of 2025. However, as of the last update, BitGo shares are in, Bitmine shares are out, and Put Strategy is closed.
2026 – A turbulent year indeed!
This reallocation of assets took place at a time when a lot had already happened by 2026. Tensions in the Middle East, Donald Trump’s rate shocks, the Fed’s rate cut, and other factors had taken the crypto market by storm.
Finally, the cryptocurrency market was further pressured by the increase in scams and exploits in 2026.
As AMBCrypto previously reported, losses increased in May, bringing the year-to-date total to nearly $770 million. In April alone, more than 600 million dollars were lost in almost 30 incidents.
Final summary
- Intesa Sanpaolo has reduced its exposure to Solana while increasing its investments in BlackRock’s ARK+21Shares ETF and iShares.
- Despite a turbulent year, the Italian banking group is repeating signs that cryptocurrency adoption is still continuing.