Intesa Sanpaolo Reveals $96M Bitcoin ETF Holdings and $184.6M Strategy Put Bet

Highlights:

• Intesa Sanpaolo disclosed $96M in spot Bitcoin ETF holdings in its latest U.S. 13F filing.
• The bank reported five spot ETF positions, with most capital in ARK 21Shares and iShares products.
• The filing also lists a $4.3M Solana staking ETF stake and smaller equity positions in crypto firms.

Intesa Sanpaolo, a banking group headquartered in Turin, revealed a $96 million spot Bitcoin ETF holding and a huge put option on Michael Saylor’s Strategy shares in a quarterly 13F filing filed in the U.S. ending December last year. The document lists five spot Bitcoin ETF positions. It also details additional crypto-linked exposure.

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The Italian bank disclosed that it has a $72.6 million stake in ARKB. It also revealed $23.4 million in the iShares Bitcoin Trust. These two positions represent most of the allocation. The remaining exposure appears across three other spot Bitcoin ETF products. The combined total stands at just over $96 million.

The filing carries a “DFND” shared-defined designation. This label indicates that Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. and affiliated asset managers share investment authority. The document does not identify the specific affiliated entities. It also does not state whether internal trading desks or client mandates directed the trades.

A separate 13F filed by the bank’s U.S. wealth management arm shows no digital asset exposure. The group previously purchased 11 BTC for over $1 million early last year. Intesa Sanpaolo operates a proprietary trading desk that also handles cryptocurrency activity.

A Closer Look At The Intesa Sanpaolo’s Bitcoin ETF Holdings

The five-spot Bitcoin ETF positions form the core of the disclosed exposure. Spot ETFs hold Bitcoin directly and trade on public exchanges. Investors access price exposure through regulated securities markets. Intesa Sanpaolo allocated most capital to two large vehicles.

The ARK 21Shares position totals $72.6 million. The iShares Bitcoin Trust position totals $23.4 million. Three additional spot ETF holdings account for the remaining amount. The allocation appears within a broader filing that includes other digital asset-linked instruments. The Bitcoin ETF exposure remains the largest disclosed crypto position in the report.

How the Options Position and Smaller Stakes Fit Into the Strategy

The filing also lists a put option position on Strategy shares valued at approximately $184.6 million. A put option is a permit that allows the owner to sell shares at an agreed price prior to the expiry. The position is listed alongside the long spot Bitcoin ETF exposure.

In addition, the Turin-based bank reported a stake of $4.3 million in the Solana Staking ETF that was launched by Bitwise. This product tracks the value of Solana and captures staking rewards. The filing also lists equity stakes in Coinbase, Robinhood, BitMine, and ETHZilla. These positions remain smaller in size. The largest among them totals about $4.4 million in Circle.

Meanwhile, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is trading around $66,997, a 2.23% decrease in the past day. The daily trading volume is down 11.28% to $32.08 billion. Meanwhile, the trading volume stands at $1.33 trillion as of press time. Analysts at Crypto2Community predict that BTC may rally to $100,000 if the coin reclaims $68,000.