Italy’s biggest bank just slashed its Bitcoin ETF call position by 99% to triple down on staked Ethereum

Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest banking group, cut the underlying-share amount of its reported iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF call position by 99.3% in the second quarter, while a 500,000-share-equivalent held put row appeared and its staked Ethereum ETF balance roughly tripled.

The changes mark a reset in the Italian bank’s disclosed quarter-end crypto ETF positions. They do not, by themselves, show that Intesa adopted a net bearish Bitcoin strategy.

The bank’s July 31 Form 13F captures positions held on June 30. Its May 15 filing provides the March 31 comparison point, making the figures quarter-end snapshots rather than a record of trades made on the filing dates.

The two holdings tables show Intesa’s common IBIT position falling from 646,809 shares to 40,723, a 93.7% reduction. The underlying-share amount in its held-call row dropped from 2,496,500 to 18,000, or 99.3%, according to the June 30 disclosure.

That later table also included a held IBIT put row representing 500,000 underlying shares, while no IBIT put row appeared in the March table.

Those option rows are incomplete measures of economic risk. Form 13F instructions express held options in terms of the underlying security and do not provide strike, expiration, premium, delta, or counterparty details.

SEC guidance also says written or short options are not reported or subtracted from long positions. The filing therefore cannot establish Intesa’s net Bitcoin-options exposure or determine whether the put was a hedge, a directional position or part of another strategy.

The shift in reported balances extended to Ethereum and Solana. Intesa’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF position rose from 116,200 shares to 349,600, slightly more than tripling, while its Bitwise Solana Staking ETF position fell from 2,817 shares to seven.

XRP was the exception. Intesa reported 712,319 shares of the Grayscale XRP Trust ETF at both quarter ends. That shows no net increase in the disclosed balance and means the full Q2 position cannot be confirmed as a new purchase, although offsetting trades within the quarter remain possible.

Overall, the filings show a much smaller common IBIT and held-call footprint alongside a newly disclosed put row, a larger staked Ethereum position, unchanged quarter-end XRP shares, and almost no remaining Solana ETF balance.

The holdings changed markedly, though Intesa’s complete net Bitcoin-options position and motive remain undisclosed.

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