Intesa Cuts BlackRock's IBIT by 94%, Triples Staked-Ether ETF Holdings

Italy’s biggest bank made a sharp, selective reshuffle of its crypto ETF exposure in Q2 — slashing its stake in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust while substantially boosting a staked-Ether product. What changed - IBIT (BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust): Intesa’s common shares plunged from 646,809 at March 31 to 40,723 at June 30, a 93.7% drop. The common-share position was valued at $1.36 million on June 30, down from $24.85 million three months earlier. - IBIT options: Reported IBIT call exposure collapsed from an underlying 2.50 million shares to 18,000 shares. The filing also introduced a new put tied to 500,000 IBIT shares, with a reported underlying value of about $16.65 million. - ETHB (iShares Staked Ethereum Trust): Intesa tripled its holding, rising from 116,200 to 349,600 shares (a 200.9% increase). Reported value rose from $3.15 million to $7.10 million as of June 30. - ARKB (ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF): Intesa still holds 3.47 million shares, worth roughly $67.63 million — only about 3.7% below its March position of 3.61 million shares. ARKB remains the bank’s largest disclosed crypto-ETF position by market value. - Solana staking exposure: Bitwise Solana Staking ETF dropped from 2,817 shares to just seven (valued at about $70 on June 30, vs. $31,128 previously). - XRP: Intesa’s holding in the Grayscale XRP Trust remained unchanged at 712,319 shares, though the reported value fell with market moves. What the filing does — and doesn’t — tell us - The Form 13F reports securities over which Intesa exercised investment discretion, but it does not say whether positions belong to the bank’s proprietary treasury, a managed fund, or client accounts. - Options disclosure rules mean the put tied to 500,000 IBIT shares is reported as the underlying share count and market value, but the filing omits strike, expiry, premium and links to other positions. Form 13F also excludes written options and conventional shorts, so the put is not conclusive evidence Intesa is net short IBIT or Bitcoin. - The report is a quarter-end snapshot and can be filed up to 45 days after the period, so positions may have changed since June 30. A clear market reaction cannot be isolated from the disclosure alone. Context and possible reads - The move looks more like issuer- and product-level rebalancing than a wholesale exit from crypto. Intesa’s continued large ARKB holding suggests it retained significant bitcoin exposure even as IBIT exposure fell sharply. - The larger ETHB position may reflect interest in solutions that combine price exposure with staking rewards. BlackRock’s ETHB launched on Nasdaq in February 2026 and had reported net fund assets of about $562.5 million as of Aug. 3. - The new IBIT put could be defensive protection, part of a larger options strategy, or a directional bet — the 13F does not reveal the strategy behind the instrument. Bottom line Intesa Sanpaolo’s Q2 13F shows a dramatic reduction in IBIT exposure alongside a big increase in staked-Ethereum ETF holdings, while maintaining sizable positions in ARKB and Grayscale XRP Trust. Given the reporting limits and the bank’s scale — €992.67 billion in total assets and €5.55 billion net income in H1 2026 — the filing is notable but not definitive about the group’s overall crypto strategy. The next 13F (Sept. 30 snapshot) will indicate whether these changes are lasting.