Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo cuts IBIT shares by 94%, doubles down on Ethereum: Details

According to its most recent Form 13F filed for the period ending the 30th of June 2026, Intesa Sanpaolo, the largest banking group in Italy, made a significant change to its U.S. crypto ETF portfolio during Q2 2026.

The bank drastically decreased its direct exposure to Bitcoin [BTC] by dropping its stake in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from 648,923 shares in Q1 2026 to just 40,723 shares—a 93.7% decrease. 

The bank’s exposure through IBIT call options also experienced a sharp decline at the same time, with the underlying share equivalent dropping 99.3%, from roughly 2.75 million shares to just 18,000 shares.

As a countermeasure to this cut, Intesa revealed a new put option position worth 500,000 IBIT shares, indicating that it either put in place downside protection or adopted a more intricate options strategy instead of continuing to be openly bullish.

The shift from Bitcoin to Ethereum

In turn, Intesa significantly increased its iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF allocation by more than 200%, from 116,200 shares to 349,600 shares, nearly tripling its position.

Simultaneously, it lost nearly all of its exposure to the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, going from 2,817 shares to just seven.

The changes to the portfolio indicate a significant shift in favor of Ethereum-based investment products. 

However, the filing by itself cannot tell us whether Intesa has changed its crypto investment strategy or become pessimistic about Bitcoin. This is because it does not provide insight into the bank’s off-balance-sheet exposures or wider derivatives positions.

Is the ETF data making things clear?

Well, the reason behind this can be as simple as Spot Bitcoin ETFs recording billions of outflows in H1 2026. While there have been withdrawals from Ethereum as well, they have not been as significant as those from Bitcoin.

This is further supported by AMBCrypto’s recent analysis, which noted that while Ethereum and other altcoins draw new investors, Bitcoin ETFs were losing money. 

However, present data tells a different story. According to Farside Investors’ data, ETH ETFs saw outflows of $11.9 million on the 3rd of August, while BTC ETFs saw inflows of 170.1 million on the same day.  

Though these are only speculations, this could help explain why Intesa Sanpaolo may be changing its tactics.

Final Summary

• Italy’s largest banking group dropped its stake in IBIT from 648,923 shares in the previous quarter to just 40,723 shares.
• During the quarter, the bank increased its holdings of iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF from 116,200 shares to 349,600 shares.