Fidelity Investments, the fifth largest financial holding company in the world, announced the opening of Fidelity Digital Asset Services division, which will enable institutional investors to store and trade cryptocurrencies. Representatives of the company note that according to a study by Greenwich Associates, 70% of institutional investors trust cryptocurrencies.
“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,” Tom Jessop, the founding head of Fidelity Digital Assets, said.
It is reported that the platform will be able to store bitcoin (Bitcoin), ethereum (ETH/USD), and other cryptocurrencies. Storage will be arranged on the so-called cold wallets, which will not have access via the Internet. In addition, the security system will include multi-level physical and electronic control mechanisms. Also, the parent organization, Fidelity Investments, intends to undertake an educational mission, explaining the basic terms and concepts of crypto investments to newcomers in the crypto world.
Fidelity is one of the five largest financial asset management corporations in the world. The company offers investment and custody services to 13 thousand consulting firms and brokers. In total, Fidelity manages assets worth $7.2 trillion. And the company has long been actively interested in crypto assets.
Back in 2015, Fidelity independent public charity unit allowed customers to donate funds to non-profit organizations in bitcoin. In 2017, during the rise of the cryptocurrency market, the amount of donations in bitcoin exceeded $69 million. In June, Fidelity Investments published an announcement about having found developers to create a cryptocurrency exchange.
Also last month, at the FinTech Week conference, the CEO of the company Abigail Johnson promised that the company would introduce crypto projects by the end of the year. From her speech, it can be concluded that Fidelity Digital Asset will not be the only new crypto undertaking.
The news about launching the division caused a very positive reaction among crypto experts. Many believe that a step towards institutional investors may be a turning point for the cryptocurrency market. For example, analyst Kevin Rooke believes that the launch of a cryptocurrency platform is “a very big deal”.
Fidelity manages $6.9 trillion of assets globally for 13,000+ institutions.
— Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) October 15, 2018
Today they announced an institutional crypto brokerage and custody business, giving 13,000+ no-coiner institutions around the world access to the world of crypto.
This is a very big deal 🚀
He is supported by the head of the crypto exchange Binance, Changpen Zhao, who drew attention to the fact that it is a question of “not a small fund” entering the crypto market. Many analysts compare the launch of Fidelity Digital Asset Services with the upcoming launch of the Bakkt platform. Experts are confident that institutional investors will be very actively involved in crypto trading in 2019. And in the light of this news, this forecast looks quite reasonable.
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