Pakinomist — Intesa Sanpaolo (OTC:) SpA, Italy’s largest banking group, has bought for the first time in a spot transaction. The bank bought about 1 million euros ($1 million) of the cryptocurrency, marking its deeper foray into this asset class.

The purchase was made on Monday, with the bank acquiring 11 Bitcoin, according to Niccolò Bardoscia, head of digital asset trading and investments at the bank. Bardoscia disclosed the information in an internal email that later surfaced on the online forum 4chan. A spokesman for Intesa declined to comment on the matter.

In November, Bloomberg had reported that Intesa’s crypto desk had received the necessary internal approvals and had set up the necessary technical systems to carry out spot crypto purchases. By 2023, the bank had established a proprietary crypto trading desk within its corporate and investment banking division.

Prior to this purchase, the bank’s crypto activities were limited to trading crypto options, futures and exchange-traded funds.

This development comes as other leading financial firms are also expanding their crypto operations.

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