Fidelity Launches Crypto Platform for Institutional Investors
Asset Manager Fidelity's launch marks the latest push into cryptocurrency by an institutional asset manager.
Fidelity Investments has established a company dedicated to bringing cryptocurrencies to institutional investors. Known as Fidelity Digital Asset, the new company will offer enterprise-quality custody and trade execution services for digital assets, commonly referred to as cryptocurrencies, to institutional investors, it said in a media statement on Monday.
«This is a recognition that there is institutional demand for these assets as a class. Family offices, hedge funds, other sophisticated investors are starting to think seriously about this space,» said Tom Jessop, founding head of Fidelity Digital Assets who was speaking to «Forbes».
Always-on Trading Cycle
The new platform – born out of Fidelity Center for Applied Technology – will offer three main services: custody solutions, a cryptocurrency trading execution platform, and institutional advisory services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This fits in with blockchain's always-on trading cycle.
Currently, Fidelity Investments already provides financial services for $7.2 trillion in customer assets and clearing, custody and investment services for 13,000 institutional advisory firms and brokers.
Compliant and Secure
Its newly launched custody services for bitcoin, ether and other digital assets is designed to give institutional investors a compliant way to secure their assets by holding them in a physical vault.
The platform has on-boarded a few customers for now, but will be available to more customers in early 2019. The launch of the subsidiary with 100 employees marks the latest push into cryptocurrency by an institutional asset manager.
