Italy’s Largest Bank Intesa Makes Its First Spot Bitcoin Buy (2)

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA has made its first spot Bitcoin purchase, buying roughly 1 million euros ($1 million) worth of the original cryptocurrency, as Italy’s largest banking group pushes deeper into the asset class.

Intesa bought 11 Bitcoin on Monday, the bank’s digital asset trading and investments head Niccolò Bardoscia said in an internal email that was posted on online forum 4chan. Local media earlier reported the purchase.

“It’s very small amounts, considering we have 100 billion euros in our securities portfolio,” Intesa Chief Executive Officer Carlo Messina told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Milan on Tuesday. “It’s ...