Investing.com — Intesa (LON:) Sanpaolo (OTC:) SpA, Italy’s largest banking group, has purchased for the first time in a spot transaction. The bank bought approximately 1 million euros ($1 million) worth of the cryptocurrency, marking its deeper foray into this asset class.
The purchase was made on Monday, with the bank acquiring 11 Bitcoin, according to Niccolò Bardoscia, the head of digital asset trading and investments at the bank. Bardoscia revealed the information in an internal email, which later surfaced on the online forum 4chan. An Intesa spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.
In November, Bloomberg had reported that Intesa’s crypto desk had received the necessary internal approvals and had set up the technical systems needed to conduct spot crypto purchases. In 2023, the bank had established a proprietary crypto trading desk within its corporate and investment banking division.
Before this purchase, the bank’s crypto activities were limited to trading crypto options, futures, and exchange-traded funds.
This development comes as other leading financial firms are also expanding their crypto operations.
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