Intesa Sanpaolo has decided to invest in bitcoin for the first time in its history. An internal email exchange discussing the first investment has been circulating on X and Reddit. At the moment it seems that the bank has purchased cryptocurrencies worth around one million euros. The operation was confirmed by the bank.
The message is clear enough. “We are pleased to inform you that we successfully concluded our first Bitcoin trade this morning.” There is another message but everything else in the conversation is covered by two red boxes. It’s not a screenshot, it looks like a photo was taken directly of the screen. The image started circulating on X and nei Reddit forums dedicated to cryptocurrencies.
Now they will need to be understood better margins of the operation but the news is there: for the first time Intesa Sanpaolo invested in bitcoin. How many? Again according to the email we are talking about a total of 11 bitcoins which correspond to a value slightly higher than million euros. In fact, at the moment one bitcoin is exchanged for approximately 94,652 euros. 11 bitcoins are therefore equivalent to 1,041,179.15 euros.
The email is dated January 13, 2025then the data should match the operation. Net of some fluctuations, the value of bitcoin has been stable from the end of November to today quite stable. After the race driven by the election of Donald Trump which brought bitcoin above $100,000, there were no major movements.
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Confirmation of the operation and the digital assets team
The operation was confirmed. Since 2023 the bank has equipped itself with a desk dedicated to digital assets: an office to monitor a series of investments that also concern cryptocurrencies. In Italy it is the first time that a large bank invests in bitcoin but the process that is bringing bitcoins, and cryptocurrencies in general, closer to traditional finance starts from much further away. On January 10, 2024, the Securities Exchange Commission decided to approve Bitcoin ETFs. A choice that allowed trade bitcoin positions in the channels of the stock exchange even without owning them.
The words of CEO Carlo Messina
The CEO of Intensa Sanpaolo, Carlo Messinaconfirming the operation, explained that it is a now an obligatory choice for banks: “We are a bank, we are now the European leader in terms of market cap, so it shouldn’t be surprising if we do what all the other banks in the world do”. However, Messina specified that the amounts are very limited: “Moreover, they are very limited amounts, because we have 100 billion euros of securities portfolio, so one million euros is an experiment, it is a test and I believe it demonstrates how there can be very, very limited attention towards digital channels in terms of investment”.
