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Intesa Sanpaolo nearly tripled its holding in BlackRock’s staked Ether fund during the second quarter while reducing its common-share position in the asset manager’s iShares Bitcoin Trust by 93.7%.
The Italian banking group still reported 3.47 million shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, worth $67.6 million, making it Intesa’s largest disclosed crypto-linked fund position at June 30.
ETHB Position Rises 201% to 349,600 Shares
Intesa held 349,600 shares of the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF at the end of June, up from 116,200 shares three months earlier. The position increased 200.9% and was valued at about $7.1 million.
The fund trades under the ETHB ticker and seeks to reflect Ether’s price performance alongside rewards from staking part of its holdings. Intesa has not disclosed why it increased the position or whether staking income influenced the decision.
Form 13F reports securities over which an institutional manager exercises investment discretion. It does not establish whether each position belongs to Intesa’s proprietary treasury, managed vehicles or client accounts.
Common IBIT Holding Falls 93.7% to 40,723 Shares
Intesa reduced its common IBIT position from 646,809 shares at the end of March to 40,723 shares at June 30. Its reported value declined from $24.85 million to about $1.36 million.
The underlying-share amount represented by a reported IBIT call position fell 99.3%, from 2.5 million shares to 18,000. A new put position representing 500,000 underlying IBIT shares also appeared in the June filing.
The filing does not disclose the options’ strike prices, expiration dates or premiums. Form 13F also does not provide a complete view of written options, preventing conclusions about whether the put was a hedge or a directional position.
$67.6M ARKB Stake Remains Intesa’s Largest Crypto Position
Intesa retained 3,473,584 shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, down 3.7% from 3,607,565 shares in March. The June position was valued at $67.63 million. Its 712,319-share Grayscale XRP Trust ETF position was unchanged, while its Bitwise Solana Staking ETF holding declined from 2,817 shares to seven.
Intesa’s next Form 13F will show whether the reported ETHB increase and IBIT reduction remained in place at September 30, although it will again represent only a quarter-end snapshot.
