Intesa Sanpaolo cuts BTC ETF stake 94%

TLDR

Intesa Sanpaolo has sharply rebalanced its US crypto ETF portfolio, cutting a core Bitcoin ETF stake by about 94% while increasing staked Ethereum exposure.

1. Intesa slashed holdings in BlackRocks iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from about 646,800 to 40,700 shares and added downside hedges, while keeping a large ARK Bitcoin ETF position.
2. At the same time it tripled its stake in BlackRocks iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, leaning into ETH yield in a quarter when ether prices fell sharply.
3. The move is notable for strategy, but Bitcoin ETFs still hold about 79.74 B in assets, so market wide BTC ETF demand remains resilient; watch other 13F filings for similar rotations.

Deep Dive

1. Details Of The BTC ETF Cut

According to Intesa Sanpaolos Q2 2026 Form 13F, the bank reduced its stake in iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) by roughly 94 percent, from 646,809 shares to 40,723 shares, a remaining position worth about 1.36 million dollars as of June 30. A detailed report notes that Intesa also closed 99 percent of its IBIT call options and opened a new put position covering 500,000 IBIT shares, which profits if the ETF falls, reinforcing a more defensive stance toward spot Bitcoin exposure. Despite the IBIT reduction, Intesa still holds about 3.47 million shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), valued near 67.6 million dollars and only slightly trimmed quarter on quarter, plus an unchanged stake in a Grayscale XRP trust, showing it has not exited crypto ETFs altogether but shifted where and how it takes risk.

Confidence: high because these figures come directly from a recent SEC filing and consistent coverage in mainstream crypto media.

2. Rotation Toward Yielding Ethereum

In the same disclosure, Intesa tripled its holdings in BlackRocks iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, from 116,200 shares to 349,600 shares, raising the position from about 3.15 million to 7.1 million dollars and gaining access to staking rewards in the 3 to 4 percent annual range. Coverage of institutional ETH flows highlights that this shift occurred while Ethereum (ETH) fell roughly 25 percent in Q2, suggesting Intesa used price weakness to accumulate a yield bearing ETH product rather than increase spot BTC exposure. Other institutions, such as those profiled in a recent Ethereum accumulation analysis, are also tilting toward staked ETH structures, reinforcing a broader trend toward income oriented crypto strategies rather than pure price exposure.

3. Broader ETF Context And What To Watch

Intesas IBIT cut sits within a choppy ETF backdrop: BlackRocks crypto ETFs saw several billion dollars of net redemptions in Q2 2026, although August data shows renewed inflows into spot Bitcoin funds, partly offsetting earlier outflows. At the market level, Bitcoin ETFs still hold about 79.74 billion dollars in assets under management, up modestly over the past week, while Bitcoin dominance has edged above 59 percent, indicating that aggregate BTC ETF demand remains intact even if some institutions rotate toward ETH yield products.

Conclusion

Intesa Sanpaolos 94 percent cut to its IBIT stake, paired with a tripling of staked ETH exposure, illustrates how large institutions are refining their crypto allocations toward hedged and yield driven structures rather than abandoning the asset class. For crypto users, the more important story is the mix of products institutions choose and how that mix evolves during volatile quarters, not a single reduction in one ETF line item. Watching other filings, BTC and ETH ETF flows, and how much capital migrates into staking based vehicles will show whether Intesa is an outlier or an early example of a broader institutional pivot.