Intesa Sanpaolo triples staked Ether ETF, cuts Bitcoin ETF

Intesa Sanpaolo reported changes to its crypto exchange-traded fund holdings for the second quarter, increasing its position in the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) and reducing its position in the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).

The bank reported holding 349,600 ETHB shares as of June 30, valued at $7.1 million, up from 116,200 shares worth $3.15 million at March 31.

The IBIT share count fell to 40,723 from 646,809 at the end of March, a reduction of about 94%.

The filing showed Intesa retained 3.47 million shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), valued at $67.6 million, which was its largest crypto-linked holding by dollar value. That ARKB share count was down about 4% from the first quarter. The bank kept 712,319 shares of the Grayscale XRP Trust ETF (GXRP), nearly doubled its BitGo stake to 323,000 shares and reduced its Coinbase position to 7,000 shares.

The ETHB fund provides exposure to Ether that is staked to support the Ethereum network and to earn staking rewards. IBIT and ARKB provide regulated exposure to Bitcoin through exchange-traded products. Such funds let investors gain exposure to digital assets via a regulated security without taking direct custody of the underlying tokens.

The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did not include commentary explaining the reasons for the reallocations. The figures reflect holdings as of June 30 and adjustments made between March 31 and June 30.