Fidelity launches institutional crypto unit
Fidelity Investments has launched Fidelity Digital Asset Services. The company will offer enterprise-quality custody and trade execution services for digital assets, commonly referred to as cryptocurrencies, to sophisticated institutional investors such as hedge funds, family offices and market intermediaries.
All coins will be sourced from large, over-the-counter digital exchanges and housed using cold storage to ensure customer funds always remain safe. To start, Fidelity’s services will be limited to bitcoin and ether, though representatives say they’re looking to expand their offerings in 2019.
“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,” said Abigail P. Johnson, chairman and CEO of Fidelity Investments.
Tom Jessop, head of Fidelity Digital Assets commented: “The creation of Fidelity Digital Assets is the first step in a long-term vision to create a full-service enterprise-grade platform for digital assets.”
Fidelity Digital Assets will provide solutions that institutional clients have been asking for and Fidelity, with its experience serving more than 13,000 institutions today, is suited to support.
It already has 100 employees on its roster, and it will be headed by Tom Jessop, managing director at Goldman Sachs Group and former president of the tech start-up Chain.
