Bitcoin News Today: Bank Sell-Off, ETF Inflow Rises, What’s Next? Bitcoin trades at $63,800, up 2.03% over the past 24 hours, even as Italy's largest bank walks away from most of its BlackRoc
Bitcoin trades at $63,800, up 2.03% over the past 24 hours, even as Italy's largest bank walks away from most of its BlackRock Bitcoin ETF position.
This Bitcoin News Today update centers on Intesa Sanpaolo, which cut its IBIT common shares by 94% to 40,723 and slashed its call options exposure by roughly 99.3%, according to a Q2 2026 SEC 13F filing.
No public statement from Intesa Sanpaolo explains the move. Form 13F filings are mandatory quarterly disclosures for large managers, covering U.S. equity and options positions as of June 30, and banks rarely comment on portfolio shifts of this kind.
The filing shows a clear reshuffle rather than a full Bitcoin exit. Intesa Sanpaolo still holds roughly $68 million in ARK 21Shares ARKB, the Bitcoin ETF run by Cathie Wood's firm, even after cutting its BlackRock position sharply. Analysts note that 13F data doesn't reveal option strikes, expiration dates, or full strategy, so the changes read more like selective reallocation across products and issuers than a directional bet against Bitcoin.
Some numbers from the filing stand out on their own:
IBIT common shares: down from about 647,000 to 40,723
Call options exposure: down roughly 99.3%
New IBIT put position: 500,000 shares
Staked Ethereum ETF holdings: up from 116,000 to 350,000 shares
Bitcoin Treasury company, Strategy, aligns with the recent move. 32 BTC sold in late May, the company's first meaningful sale since 2022. After that, around 3,588 BTC sold for roughly $216 million between July 1 and July 5, 2026.Both sales trace back to the Digital Credit Capital Framework, adopted June 29. That plan includes a BTC Monetization Program allowing up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin sales On-chain tracker Lookonchain reported that a wallet linked to the company moved 299.84 BTC more, worth about $18.91 million, on August 3, 2026. The receiving address has ties to exchanges, including Galaxy Digital, Binance, and Coinbase, which raises fresh questions about another sale.
Earlier this week, BTC price today slipped to $62,550, a key support level, after a coordinated U.S.-Japan currency move triggered a broad carry-trade unwind. The next Bitcoin update likely depends on whether Strategy files an SEC report confirming this transfer as an official sale.
Separately, Jim Cramer said he is selling all his Bitcoin, pointing to quantum computing risk as the reason. Bitcoin still held firm right after that comment, a sign that price often ignores single opinions.
BTC price today jumped 2.03 % amid the sell-off update, trading at $63,803. Market cap stands at $1.28 trillion25.9 billion, up 43%.
The surge today is mainly driven from Spot ETF inflow data. Spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in more than $170 million on August 4 alone, nearly matching the total net inflows recorded for all of July as per SoSoValue.
Source: CoinMarketCap Official
Intesa Sanpaolo's retreat looks like an outlier rather than a trend. In Q1 2026, when overall professional Bitcoin ETF holdings fell, the selling was concentrated among hedge funds, down about 39%, and brokerages, not banks.
Banks as a group more than doubled their combined spot Bitcoin ETF exposure that same quarter. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo added meaningfully. Citigroup showed up in filings for the first time with a smaller position, and Banco Santander disclosed its own first-time IBIT holding worth about $4.3 million in the latest quarter.
Morgan Stanley's earlier exit lined up with the launch of its own proprietary Bitcoin ETF, not a retreat from crypto broadly, showing traditional banks' crypto adoption is still expanding overall even as individual holdings shift around.
Michael Saylor has also kept pointing to Bitcoin as a long-term treasury asset, recently clarifying that his "never sell" message reflects personal conviction rather than a rule for Strategy's own Bitcoin selloff decisions.
Between fresh ETF inflows, a short squeeze, and steady accumulation from mid-size wallets, Bitcoin's price action this week tells a different story than one bank's 13F filing alone would suggest.
This Bitcoin news today shows several forces at once: a bank trimming ETF exposure, a Strategy wallet raising fresh sale questions, one trader stepping away, and fresh ETF demand pulling price back up. The next Bitcoin price move likely depends on Strategy's next filing and whether ETF inflows keep outpacing this selling pressure.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Crypto markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.
