Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy\u2019s largest banking group, tripled its position in an iShares staked Ether exchange-traded fund during the second quarter while reducing its position in the iShares spot Bitcoin ETF.<\/p>\n
The bank reported holding 349,600 shares of the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB<\/a>) worth $7.1 million as of June 30, according to Friday filing<\/a> with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. That was up from 116,200 shares valued<\/a> at $3.15 million at the end of March.<\/p>\n Intesa retained 3.47 million shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB<\/a>) worth $67.6 million, its largest crypto-linked holding in the filing. The share count was down about 4% from the first quarter.<\/p>\n The bank cut its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT<\/a>) shareholding by about 94%, to 40,723 shares from 646,809 shares.<\/p>\n Intesa kept its Grayscale XRP Trust ETF (GXRP<\/a>) position unchanged at 712,319 shares, nearly doubled its BitGo stake to 323,000 shares and reduced its Coinbase position to 7,000 shares.<\/p>\n Crypto ETFs give banks and other institutional investors exposure to digital assets through regulated securities products, avoiding the custody, compliance and operational requirements of holding cryptocurrencies directly.<\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Italy\u2019s largest bank more than doubles crypto holdings to $235M in Q1: Report<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> Bitcoin price<\/a> \u00b7 BTC live chart<\/a> \u00b7 Ethereum price<\/a> \u00b7 ETH gas fee<\/a> \u00b7 Bitcoin price today<\/a> \u00b7 Top 10 cryptocurrencies<\/a><\/p>\n