Intesa Sanpaolo is the first Italian bank to invest in crypto, buying over $1m worth of BTC

Banca Intesa Sanpaolo is the first Italian bank to buy Bitcoin, as revealed by email screenshots leaked on the website 4chan.

According to a report by Wired Italia, traders have recently discovered crypto purchases by Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy's largest bank by assets. Intesa Sanpaolo is the first Italian bank to invest in digital currency after buying 11 Bitcoin (BTC), worth around €1 million or equivalent to $1.02 million.

The investment was first published on the image-based journal platform 4chan, where users can share images and post comments anonymously. On January 13, an unknown user released screenshots of email exchanges sent by Niccolò Bardoscia, head of digital asset trading & investments at Intesa Sanpaolo.

“As of today 01/13/2025, Intesa Sanpaolo has 11 Bitcoins. Thank you all for the teamwork”, Bardoscia said in an email sent to some of the company's executives who helped with the purchase.

Banca Intesa Sanpaolo has since confirmed the purchase to Wired Italia, saying that they have indeed bought 11 BTC and that the email screenshots are real. However, the bank did not provide more information about its crypto investment.

Based on the report, Wired Italia still does not know the reason behind Intesa Sanpaolo's crypto investment and whether it is part of their strategy to put more Bitcoin into their investment portfolio in the future.

So far, no other major Italian credit institution has made any official announcement about investing in cryptocurrency. In fact, Intesa Sanpaolo has not yet disclosed its recent Bitcoin purchase through any of its official communication channels.

Last November, Intesa Sanpaolo expanded its digital asset products to include spot trading for cryptocurrencies, according to Bloomberg. In the past, the Italian bank has also collaborated with Intesa with Ripple Custody, formerly Metaco, to facilitate the custody of tokenized assets.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Italy lowered its tax rates for crypto capital gains from 42% to around 26% last November after facing backlash from players in the crypto industry. In addition, the Italian government announced that it will introduce a selective directive for financial institutions based on work with crypto on the EU Market in the Management of Crypto Assets or MiCA.