PK Press Club — Intesa Sanpaolo (OTC:) SpA, Italy’s largest banking group, bought in a spot transaction for the first time. The bank purchased around €1 million ($1 million) worth of cryptocurrency, marking its deeper foray into the asset class.
The purchase was made on Monday, with the bank acquiring 11 Bitcoins, according to Niccolò Bardoscia, 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 reported that Intesa’s crypto office had received the necessary internal approvals and had the necessary technical systems in place to make spot crypto purchases. By 2023, the bank had established a proprietary cryptocurrency trading desk within its corporate and investment banking division.
Prior to this purchase, the bank’s crypto activities were limited to trading crypto options, futures, and exchange-traded funds.
The development comes as other major financial firms are also expanding their crypto operations.
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