Intesa Sanpaolo becomes the first Italian bank to invest in crypto, buying more than $1m worth of BTC

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

According to a report by Wired Italia, traders have detected a recent crypto purchase by Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank by assets. Intesa Sanpaolo becomes the first Italian bank to invest in cryptocurrency after buying 11 Bitcoin (BTC), worth around €1 million or equal to $1.02 million.

The investment was first revealed on image-based bulletin platform 4chan, where users can share images and post comments anonymously. On Jan. 13, an unknown user leaked screenshots of email exchanges sent by Niccolò Bardoscia, head of digital assets trading & investments at Intesa Sanpaolo.

“As of today 01/13/2025, Intesa Sanpaolo owns 11 Bitcoins. Thank you all for the teamwork”, said Bardoscia in an email addressed to some of the firm’s executives who helped make the purchase happen.

Banca Intesa Sanpaolo has since confirmed the validity of the purchase to Wired Italia, stating that they have indeed purchased 11 BTC and the email screenshots are real. However, the bank did not provide any other further information regarding their 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 add more Bitcoin into their investment portfolio in the future.

So far, no other major Italian credit group has made any sort of official announcements about investing in cryptocurrency. In fact, Intesa Sanpaolo has yet to disclose 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 tokenized asset custody.

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 crypto industry players. Moreover, the Italian government announced it will introduce selective guidelines for financial institutions based working with crypto on the E.U.’s Market in Crypto Asset Regulation or MiCA.