Italian Banking giant Intesa Sanpaolo made its debut purchase of Bitcoin marking the first time an Italian banking entity deals in cryptocurrency.
The Bank purchased 11 BTC for a little under One million Euros. The transaction made history for being the first direct purchase of cryptocurrency by an Italian banking entity.
The development was made public when an email exchange of the transaction between two employees was leaked on the Anonymous site 4CHAN.
Wired Italia confirmed the transaction from Intesa Sanpaolo who verified its authenticity but did not provide further details on the debut purchase.
11 BTC
According to leaked email messages, the Italian banking giants acquired the 11 Bitcoin tokens on the morning of Jan 13. Bitcoin Price on this date fell below $90,000 for the first time in a long time before currently retracing. Bitcoin is currently exchanging hands for $96,443 surging by 6.3% in the last 24 hours.
Going by Bitcoin’s current price, the BTC stash purchased by Intesa is already worth 1,034.139 euros adding 34,000 euros in less than 24 hours.
The Email exchange that leaked the information belonged to Niccolò Bardoscia, head of digital assets trading & investments at Intesa Sanpaolo.
The email announced that the Italian Bank now owns 11 BTC while congratulating the entire team that worked on the purchase.
Historic Purchase
The Purchase by Banca Intesa Sanpaolo marked the first time a major credit group in Italy was dealing directly with cryptocurrency.
The approach to crypto in the country has been overtly cautious with traditional financial institutions highlighting the risks involved in crypto while poking issues related to the industry with a long pole.
The purchase comes at a time when other Jurisdictions are openly embracing the technology and looking at setting up strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
The United States under Donald Trump is expected to set up a Bitcoin reserve acting as a catalyst for other jurisdictions to join in.
The Largest bank in Italy buying its first Bitcoin would probably spur other banking entities in the country to try their hands too.
In other news, another banking heavyweight Standard Chartered recently acquired a license to provide Digital asset services in Luxembourg.
