Intesa Sanpaolo adds about $18M of XRP-linked exposure via trust in Q1 2026
CoinMarketCap reported that Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy's largest bank, expanded its digital-asset allocation in the first quarter of 2026 by adding roughly $18 million in new XRP-related exposure through the Grayscale XRP Trust.
The report said the bank also increased its Bitcoin holdings, took on Ethereum exposure for the first time, and cut back positions tied to Solana products. Total digital-asset-related holdings rose to about $235 million for the quarter.
The newly added XRP exposure was obtained through a trust structure rather than direct token ownership, a route typically favored by large financial institutions for easier integration with established risk management, custody, and compliance frameworks.
On the Solana side, Intesa Sanpaolo is said to have reduced exposure held via the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, a move described as an in-quarter reallocation as institutions rebalance across different crypto products. The report noted that trust and ETF-style instruments remain key channels for traditional finance to access crypto markets, generally fitting more smoothly into regulated account systems than direct token custody.
Separately, the report said Intesa Sanpaolo is using Ripple Custody—the institutional-grade custody service formerly known as Metaco—as part of its digital-asset infrastructure, supporting functions such as secure storage, access controls, transaction approvals, and operational record-keeping. Such platforms can also serve tokenized-finance use cases, including on-chain products like digital securities and tokenized funds.
If accurate, the developments suggest the bank is expanding both its portfolio exposure to XRP-linked products and its operational capabilities around digital assets. Intesa Sanpaolo operates across retail banking, corporate finance, investment banking, wealth management, and private banking; the infrastructure could support additional offerings aimed at institutional and high-net-worth clients as demand for regulated crypto products and tokenized instruments grows.
