Traditional banking giants finally can’t sit still anymore. How should we view the move by Banco in São Paulo—adding to ETH and XRP positions while trimming SOL? No matter how you look at it, it really feels like they’re copying institutional playbooks.

In the first quarter of 2026, Italy’s UniCredit Bank San Paolo significantly expanded its exposure to the crypto sector, with related assets increasing from approximately $100 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 to about $235 million. By March 31, it had added to its Bitcoin holdings and made its first purchase of Ethereum by buying the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust. Through the Grayscale XRP Trust, it held 712,319 shares of Ripple (about $18 million), while reducing its exposure to Solana.