Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, confirmed purchasing 11 Bitcoins for €1 million, marking its first direct crypto investment.
While the acquisition was revealed through a leaked email, the bank declined to disclose its motivations or future Bitcoin plans.
Intesa Sanpaolo’s Bitcoin Purchase
The biggest bank in Italy, Intesa Sanpaolo, bought 11 Bitcoins for about €1 million (US$1 million). It is the first Italian bank to invest directly in the cryptocurrency.
The news came from Intesa Sanpaolo’s press office. There had been rumors earlier in the day after a private email from the group was leaked on the forum 4chan.
According to a report from the Italian crypto news site Criptovaluta, the purchase was explained in an email signed by Niccolò Bardoscia, who is in charge of the bank’s Trading and Investment division for Digital Assets.
The buy was confirmed, but the banking group wouldn’t say more about why it bought Bitcoin or what it might do with it in the future, according to the report.
It’s still not clear if this is an indication that the group wants to offer more crypto services or if it’s just an experiment with investing in digital assets.
The purchase is a big deal for the cryptocurrency market in Italy, and Intesa Sanpaolo is now seen as a leader in integrating digital assets into the country’s standard banking system.
Its investment comes at a time when institutions around the world are becoming more interested in Bitcoin.
Ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week, MicroStrategy, run by Michael Saylor, and Metaplanet, based in Japan, have continued to buy the commodity.
During the campaign, Trump said he would set up a national Bitcoin reserve, encourage new ideas in the U.S., and make sure businesses working there followed clear rules.
It was earlier reported that there are growing expectations that Trump will issue an executive order related to crypto within the first few hours of his second term in order to create a presidential crypto council made up of about 20 leaders in the crypto industry.
European regulators have recently made it easier to understand digital assets, and financial institutions are starting to use them more. This has made traditional players more willing to try out blockchain technology.
Since Intesa Sanpaolo has been looking into blockchain and digital asset options for almost a decade, it is clear that the company is keeping an eye on what is happening in the U.S.
In July 2024, the bank backed the first blockchain-based digital bond in Italy, which was worth €25 million ($25.6 million). It was released by the development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti on the Polygon blockchain.
It also added cryptocurrency spot trading to its proprietary trading section in November. This builds on its work with digital asset-related options, futures, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
