Crypto mass adoption is coming soon: Fidelity to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services to institutional customers
|- Fidelity Investments announced the launch of a crypto focused division.
- This step is touted as a significant move towards crypto adoption.
One of the world's largest asset management companies Fidelity Investments announced the launch of a new division that will focus on Bitcoin and Ethereum trading and custody services for institutional clients, The Financial Times reports.
The new company, Fidelity Digital Assets, will go live in early 2019, while Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital will become one of its first clients.
It’s a significant move for the crypto industry towards institutional adoption and a bold decision for a cautious, regulated company with $7.2 trillion in client assets under management.
Security considerations, high volatility and lack of confidence in cryptocurrency assets held large institutions back from getting involved in trading cryptocurrencies; however, new services offered by Fidelity Digital Assets may change this trend.
Fidelity has become one of the first large financial institutions to get involved bitcoin, but offered no crypto-related products to customers, lagging behind such startups as Robinhood and Square ’s Cash that already provide direct crypto trading to retail customers.
Now the company is focused on institutional clients, citing a lot of demand in the market that is still evolving rapidly.
“Our goal is to make digitally-native assets, such as bitcoin, more accessible to investors. We expect to continue investing and experimenting, over the long-term, with ways to make this emerging asset class easier for our clients to understand and use,” Abigail Johnson, chairman, and chief executive of Fidelity Investments, said in a statement.
The crypto industry and crypto asset managers met the news with enthusiasm, noting that this step will clear the significant hurdle for cryptocurrency mass and institutional adoption.
“For many institutional investors, a trusted custodian like Fidelity entering the space removes a huge obstacle to investing in crypto assets. I think we’ll look back on 2018, and particularly this moment, as the time that crypto became cemented as a new asset class,” a crypto asset manager Hunter Horsley of Bitwise Asset Management commented.
Information on these pages contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Markets and instruments profiled on this page are for informational purposes only and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy or sell in these assets. You should do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. FXStreet does not in any way guarantee that this information is free from mistakes, errors, or material misstatements. It also does not guarantee that this information is of a timely nature. Investing in Open Markets involves a great deal of risk, including the loss of all or a portion of your investment, as well as emotional distress. All risks, losses and costs associated with investing, including total loss of principal, are your responsibility. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FXStreet nor its advertisers.