A surprise move that left everyone stunned. Intesa Sanpaolo has entered the cryptocurrency market buying bitcoins worth one million dollars. A paltry sum, certainly, but one that marks a real turning point: Intesa is in fact the first Italian bank to invest in digital currency most famous in the world.
Intesa Sanpaolo buys 11 bitcoins
In detail, the bank led by Carlo Messina has bought 11 bitcoins. The news began to circulate on Monday evening, when an internal email was released on social media in which Niccolò Bardoscia, head of Digital Assets Trading & Investments at Intesa Sanpaolo, announced that the institution had successfully concluded the first trade on Bitcoin, “With the hope that this is only the beginning,” Bardoscia wrote in the email. Then came the confirmation from Intesa, which however did not provide further details on the operation, nor on the strategy or the circumstances for which it decided to conclude the operation at this time.
The move by the first Italian bank could represent the first sign of a turning point coming soon – not only in Italy, but in the world – in view of the inauguration at the White House of Donald Trump who during his election campaign had promised to make the USA the world capital of cryptocurrencies. It should also be taken into account that a few days ago the MiCAR, the European regulation on crypto-assets.
According to the Fabi Report, to date, 1,35 million Italians own cryptocurrencies worth 2,2 billion euros. The data refers to mid-November of last year.
Messina: “It’s an experiment, a test”
“We are now the European leader in terms of market cap, so it should not be surprising if we do what all the other banks in the world do,” explained the CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, Carlo Messina, interviewed on the sidelines of the presentation of an agreement with Confindustria. “However, these are very limited amounts because we have 100 billion euros in our securities portfolio. It's an experiment, a test".
“I believe this is a demonstration of the fact that there can be attention towards the digital channels very limited in terms of investment – continued Messina -, but above all it demonstrates that we are ready in the event that some particularly sophisticated clients ask to make these forms of investment”.
“However – he concluded – allow me to reiterate that I personally believe it a form of investment that must be reserved for institutional operators and to clients with truly great professionalism and great skills, I myself do not invest in Bitcoin”.