Italy’s Intesa Widens Scope of Crypto Desk to Cover Spot Trades

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.