Can I Buy Bitcoin with Intesa Sanpaolo?
You can buy Bitcoin by sending euros from Intesa Sanpaolo to a MiCA-licensed exchange. The bank itself sells no crypto to retail customers. Its Guida ai Servizi sets no crypto-specific cap. Default online limits are €30,000 a day and €60,000 a month, adjustable to €60,000 and €120,000 respectively.
A separate €15,000 ceiling applies to each instant transfer unless you change it. Fraud software checks every payment against your usual behaviour and can prompt security questions for unusual transactions. Our first exchange transfer from an XME Conto required a second confirmation in the app, but later payments to the saved payee did not.
For its own holdings, Intesa bought 11 Bitcoin in January 2025 and later reported about $100 million in Bitcoin ETFs to the US securities regulator. These investments give current-account customers no access to crypto. The bank continues to exclude retail clients from crypto-linked products.
How to Buy Crypto with Intesa Sanpaolo
We buy crypto with Intesa Sanpaolo by sending a SEPA transfer, the standard euro bank transfer, from the Intesa Sanpaolo Mobile app to Bybit EU. Receiving the deposit costs nothing at Bybit. Intesa charges the same for an instant transfer as for an ordinary bank transfer, or bonifico.
Steps to buy crypto with Intesa Sanpaolo:
- Open and verify a Bybit EU account: Register on Bybit and complete the KYC identity checks using your carta d'identità or passport. Italian residents register with Bybit EU GmbH in Vienna, a separate company from the global Bybit exchange.
- Copy the euro deposit details: Open Deposit in Bybit, choose EUR and select SEPA. Copy the IBAN, your reference and the beneficiary name, Bybit EU GmbH. The sending account must be in your own name, as third-party payments are returned.
- Check your Intesa limits: Open Altro, then Sicurezza in Intesa Sanpaolo Mobile. Your daily and monthly ceilings appear under Limiti operativi, while Bonifico istantaneo shows the per-payment cap. Raising the instant limit in the app takes up to 12 hours. We changed ours one evening, and it was active by morning.
- Send the bonifico: Choose Bonifico under Operazioni, enter the IBAN and tick the instant option. Intesa checks the name you enter against the account holder through its verifica del beneficiario control, so use Bybit EU GmbH in full. Approve the payment with O-Key Smart, the app's PIN or fingerprint confirmation.
- Buy on the spot market: When the euros arrive in your Funding account, move them to Spot. Place a limit order on BTC/EUR to buy only at your chosen price. Reserve the one-click Convert screen for small test purchases because its quote includes a wider buy-sell price gap.
For a held payment, call the Filiale Digitale, Intesa's phone and online branch, on 800.303.303 and confirm that you ordered it. This team can also apply a limit increase immediately.
Fees, Tax and Transfer Limits for Intesa Sanpaolo Customers
The purchase involves Intesa's standard transfer fee and Bybit's trading fee. Tax takes the largest share of any subsequent gain.
Intesa Sanpaolo costs and limits
- Online bonifico: A SEPA transfer from XME Conto Gold costs €0.50 through the app or internet banking, or €1.50 in branch. SEPA transfers are included in XME Conto Platinum's monthly fee.
- Instant bonifico: Under the EU's Instant Payments Regulation, this costs the same as an ordinary transfer. Payments are credited within ten seconds, at any hour of any day.
- Instant transfer cap: Intesa's bonifico information sheet sets the default at €15,000 per payment. You can change the amount or switch to a daily cap through the app, by phone or in branch. App changes require a verified device.
- Daily and monthly limits: The defaults are €30,000 a day and €60,000 a month. In the Sicurezza section, you can raise them to €60,000 and €120,000 respectively. Instant transfers count towards both limits.
- Payee name check: Every euro transfer has required this check since 9 October 2025. A name mismatch produces a warning but does not block the payment. Read it before confirming.
- Fraud monitoring: Intesa's Behavioural Customer Monitoring software compares each payment with your usual pattern. Unusual transactions can be held for security questions.
- Transfers abroad of €5,000 or more: Italian banks report payments to foreign IBANs at or above this amount to the Agenzia delle Entrate under Decree-Law 167/1990. This routine report does not itself create a tax liability.
- Deposit protection: Italy's interbank deposit guarantee fund covers euros in your Intesa account up to €100,000. That protection does not extend to crypto held on an exchange.
Bybit EU fees
- SEPA deposit: Bybit charges no fee.
- Spot trading: Entry-tier trades cost 0.25% under the single fee schedule introduced by Bybit EU on 5 October 2026. The EU platform no longer distinguishes between maker and taker fees, under which orders waiting on the order book cost less than those executed immediately.
- Cards, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay: Check the fee displayed on the deposit screen before paying. For anything beyond a test purchase, a bank transfer is cheaper.
- Crypto withdrawal: The withdrawal window shows a fixed fee for each coin and network.
- Euro withdrawal: Withdraw by SEPA to an IBAN in your own name. Any fee appears before confirmation.
Italian tax on crypto
- 33% on gains: Law 207/2024 raised the rate from 26% on 1 January 2026. Tax applies from the first euro because the former €2,000 exemption ended in 2025.
- 26% for euro stablecoins: The 2026 Budget Law retained this lower rate for MiCA-compliant, euro-denominated e-money tokens. A swap from Bitcoin into one of these tokens remains taxable at 33%.
- Declaring: Enter gains in quadro RT of your tax return and holdings in quadro RW. A yearly tax of 0.2% applies to the value of those holdings.
- Losses: You can offset losses against crypto gains and carry any excess forward for up to four years.
- Automatic reporting: Since 1 January 2026, exchanges serving EU residents have collected account and transaction data under DAC8, the EU directive on sharing tax data. Italy adopted it through Legislative Decree 194/2025, with the first reports reaching the Agenzia delle Entrate in 2027.
For a €5,000 purchase funded from XME Conto Gold, Intesa charges €0.50 and Bybit's spot fee is €12.50. A later sale at a €1,000 gain produces a €330 tax bill.
Best Exchanges for Intesa Sanpaolo Customers
All the platforms below accept SEPA transfers from Intesa and hold MiCA authorisations valid in Italy. Bybit EU offers the widest catalogue with a 0.25% trading fee. Ireland supervises Kraken, while Coinbase is supervised from Luxembourg. Turin-based Young Platform holds a licence from Consob, Italy's markets regulator.
For a broader comparison, see our guide to the best crypto exchanges in Italy.
Intesa Sanpaolo Cryptocurrency Policy
Intesa Sanpaolo has announced no plans for retail crypto trading, custody or a wallet. Chief executive Carlo Messina has said crypto belongs with institutional investors and highly skilled clients. According to Milano Finanza, branch customers cannot buy crypto-linked products through the bank, even when those products are listed on foreign exchanges.
UniCredit describes its stance as neutral. Its less restrictive policy allows customers enabled for foreign markets to trade listed instruments independently. Our Fineco guide covers a bank built around self-directed trading.
Intesa's own crypto operations remain institutional. It established a digital assets trading desk in 2023 and disclosed about $235 million in crypto holdings at the end of March 2026 in filings with the US securities regulator. The bank then joined Qivalis in May 2026, becoming part of a consortium of 37 European banks preparing a regulated euro stablecoin.
MiCA's transition period ended on 30 June 2026. Until then, firms on the old national register could continue trading. Consob and the Banca d'Italia confirmed that only authorised providers may now operate.
Eight Italian firms hold a licence. Banca Sella has also notified the Banca d'Italia that it offers crypto services as a bank. An exchange licensed elsewhere in the EU can serve Italian customers under that licence, and our list of the best MiCA-licensed exchanges tracks eligible platforms.
Regulators advise customers to check the legal entity providing their service because MiCA protections cover only the authorised EU company. Bybit's entity is Bybit EU GmbH, supervised by the FMA in Vienna. This company is separate from the global exchange that lost about $1.46 billion in a February 2025 hack.
About Intesa Sanpaolo
The merger of Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI created Intesa Sanpaolo on 1 January 2007, although its oldest roots reach back to Turin in 1563. Today, the group serves about 13.9 million customers across more than 2,600 Italian branches.
Its subsidiaries serve another 7.5 million customers across Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. After acquiring UBI Banca in 2020, Intesa later launched its digital-only sister bank, Isybank. The group has its registered office in Piazza San Carlo, Turin, and is supervised by the European Central Bank and the Banca d'Italia.
Intesa Sanpaolo Mobile gives retail customers access to their accounts under My Key, the contract governing every online payment. Monthly prices for the XME Conto range are €5.90 for Silver, €10.90 for Gold and €20.90 for Platinum.
Bottom Line
An exchange deposit is treated like any other bonifico at Intesa Sanpaolo, with no crypto-specific cap. The daily limit starts at €30,000, and instant payments up to €15,000 are credited in seconds. Retail customers still cannot access crypto products through the bank itself, including trading, custody and listed funds.
We recommend Bybit EU for its Austrian MiCA licence, free euro deposits and 0.25% spot trading fee. Set your instant limit a day before transferring. Enter Bybit EU GmbH exactly as shown in the deposit details, then use the spot market instead of Convert.
Keep every exchange statement. The Agenzia delle Entrate begins receiving the same data in 2027, and the 33% tax rate leaves little room for a missed declaration.
