Intesa Sanpaolo Cuts IBIT by 94%, Triples Stake in BlackRock’s Staked-ETH ETF

Italy’s biggest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, dramatically reshuffled its crypto ETF exposures in Q2, slashing its holding in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) while substantially increasing its stake in BlackRock’s newly launched iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB), according to the lender’s latest Form 13F. What changed - IBIT: Intesa’s common-share position in IBIT dropped 93.7% — from 646,809 shares at March 31 to 40,723 shares on June 30. The common position’s reported value fell to $1.36 million from $24.85 million. Its IBIT call exposure also collapsed (from the equivalent of 2.50 million underlying shares to just 18,000), and the bank’s filing newly disclosed a put option tied to 500,000 IBIT shares (reported market value $16.65 million). - ETHB (iShares Staked Ethereum Trust): Intesa tripled this holding, increasing shares from 116,200 to 349,600 (+200.9%). The holding’s reported value rose to $7.10 million from $3.15 million. ETHB, which launched on Nasdaq in February 2026, combines Ether price exposure with staking rewards; BlackRock reported roughly $562.5 million in net fund assets as of Aug. 3. - ARKB (ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF): Intesa still holds 3.47 million shares — worth about $67.63 million — only slightly down (3.7%) from 3.61 million three months earlier, leaving ARKB as its largest disclosed crypto-ETF position by market value. - Solana staking ETF and XRP: The bank pared its Bitwise Solana Staking ETF from 2,817 shares to just 7 (value fell to $70 from $31,128). Its Grayscale XRP Trust stake remained at 712,319 shares (value fell with the market price). What the filing does — and doesn’t — tell us - Form 13F reports holdings over which Intesa exercised investment discretion as of quarter-end; it does not say whether positions are held by the bank’s treasury, a managed fund, or client accounts. - Options reporting rules force managers to show the equivalent shares and market value of option positions, but the 13F does not disclose option strike prices, expirations, premiums, nor other offsetting contracts. Written options and conventional short positions are excluded. So the newly disclosed 500,000-share IBIT put could be a hedge, part of a wider options strategy, or a bearish bet — the filing alone can’t confirm the economic net exposure. - 13F filings are a quarter-end snapshot and can be submitted up to 45 days later, so positions may have shifted after June 30. Why it matters Intesa’s move looks like a selective rotation within crypto ETFs rather than a wholesale exit from Bitcoin — the bank retained substantial ARKB exposure even as it cut IBIT. The marked increase in ETHB could reflect appetite for an ETF that pays staking rewards in addition to Ether price exposure. Still, Intesa has not provided public commentary tying the trades to a strategy. Scale and next steps Intesa reported €992.67 billion in total assets and €5.55 billion in net income for H1 2026, so its ETF trades are notable even if 13F disclosures aren’t a full picture of the group’s digital-asset strategy. The next 13F (Sept. 30 snapshot) will show whether the IBIT reduction and ETHB expansion endure, but like this filing it will remain a partial, lagged view of the bank’s crypto activity.