Italy’s Largest Banking Group Invests Directly in Cryptos For First Time

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Sujha Sundararajan

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Sujha Sundararajan

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Italy Intesa Sanpaolo

Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank by assets, purchased 11 Bitcoins on Monday, worth €1 million ($1.02 million).

According to a Wired Italia report, this marks the first time in Italy, a credit institution concluded a direct crypto transaction.

Some employees of the largest Italian bank first flagged the crypto purchase and sale on the imageboard website 4Chan.

“As of today (Monday), Intesa Sanpaolo owns 11 Bitcoins. Thank you all for the teamwork”, said Niccolò Bardoscia, head of digital assets trading & investments at Intesa Sanpaolo in a mail.

However, Bardoscia did not reveal further information on Intesa Sanpaolo’s motivations for choosing BTC or its future crypto strategies. It is unclear whether the move signals the bank’s intent to expand its crypto services.

Last November, Intesa Sanpaolo expanded the remit of its digital assets desk to cover spot trading for crypto. The biggest lender in Italy had previously only traded crypto options, futures, and exchange-traded funds. However, the spot trading isn’t yet up and running.

Milan-based Intesa Sanpaolo has worked with Ripple Custody (formerly Metaco), to facilitate tokenised asset custody.

Intesa’s move mirrors a growing trend among traditional financial institutions exploring cryptos.

Italy’s Crypto Tax Revisions

The bank’s Bitcoin investment came when the country overhauled its crypto taxation laws, particularly focusing on Bitcoin (BTC) capital gains.

In December 2024, Italy’s Senate finalised the tax rates for crypto capital gains, confirming a 26% tax for 2025. Further, the parliament approved a government proposal to increase the withholding tax on Bitcoin profits to 33% in 2026.

In July 2024, Intesa became the sole institutional investor in Italian development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti’s digital bond issuance. The move marked a significant step in digital asset adoption in Italy.

Besides, the implementation of the European MiCA Regulation marks a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for crypto service providers across the EU.

The European Union set a Dec. 30 deadline for its member states to implement MiCA, although not all countries have managed to.

In Italy, the MiCA Decree, the Legislative Decree of September 5, 2024, assigns critical responsibilities to the Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (Consob) and the Bank of Italy. It designs them as the primary national authorities for overseeing compliance with MiCA’s provisions.

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