Intesa Sanpaolo Shifts Strategy Between Bitcoin and Ethereum

Intesa Sanpaolo made big moves in its crypto portfolio during the second quarter. The Italian banking giant slashed its holdings in the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF, known as IBIT, by 94 percent. To hedge against further volatility, the bank also added a put option for 500,000 shares of the Bitcoin product.

While the bank cooled off on its Bitcoin exposure, it went in the opposite direction with Ethereum. The institution tripled its stake in the 21Shares Ethereum ETF, suggesting a change in sentiment toward the second largest cryptocurrency.

Institutional shifts like these often signal how traditional finance players view the long term outlook for digital assets. Investors will be watching the next round of institutional disclosures to see if this trend of favoring Ethereum over Bitcoin continues into the second half of the year.