News

(Bloomberg) -- Intesa Sanpaolo SpA is expanding the remit of its digital assets desk to handle spot trades with cryptocurrencies, the latest move deeper into the new market by a traditional bank.

Italy’s biggest lender set up its proprietary crypto trading desk within the corporate and investment banking division in 2023, according to people familiar with the matter. Since then, it’s only traded crypto options, futures and exchange traded funds, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matters were not public.

While spot trading isn’t yet up and running, the desk has had the necessary internal approvals and technical systems in place for about a month, the people said. The four-person team is led by quant trader Niccolò Bardoscia, according to the people and LinkedIn profiles of members.

Milan-based Intesa worked with Ripple Custody, formerly Metaco, to build the custody functionality for any kind of tokenized asset, Cassie Craddock, managing director for UK and Europe at Ripple, confirmed in an emailed statement.

A spokesperson for Intesa declined to comment.

Intesa’s move comes as the Italian government is said to be considering changes that will water down a proposed tax increase on crypto trades. Meanwhile, the European Union is preparing to fully adopt its first bloc-wide crypto regulations that are expected to herald more activity from large firms in the sector.

Crypto assets are on a roll. Since Donald Trump won the US election, Bitcon has soared around 30% on speculation his about-face on digital assets will turbocharge the industry.

Good Fit

While Intesa is currently only prop trading — buying and selling with its own money rather than on behalf of clients — the new desk’s activities fit with the bank’s broader blockchain projects, and lay the ground for eventually trading digital assets with institutional customers, the people said.

In July Intesa was an underwriter and sole institutional investor in Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti’s first digital bond issuance.

Other financial heavyweights are delving into crypto and the market structures that have sprung up around it.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has amassed $42 billion in assets in its Bitcoin-backed exchange traded fund and is pushing to have its money-market digital coin more widely used as collateral for crypto derivatives trades. JPMorgan Chase & Co. will soon offer instant settlement for foreign-exchange conversions between the dollar and the euro through its blockchain platform and plans to add sterling to the service over time.