The reported cited “a person familiar with the matter,” which said that Fidelity will launch the service for trading bitcoin “within a few weeks” and will be dedicated exclusively to institutional clients.
Fidelity investment first launched earlier this year its Bitcoin custody service which currently operational. Fidelity Asset Management is a branch of Fidelity which is focused on crypto was launched in October.
Arlene Roberts, a Fidelity spokeswoman was quoted to say regarding the service:
“We currently have a select set of clients we’re supporting on our platform. We will continue to roll out our services over the coming weeks and months based on our clients’ needs, jurisdictions, and other factors. Currently, our service offering is focused on Bitcoin.”
Fidelity published a survey from November- February which reported that institutional investors have a high interest in trading with crypto products. 72 percent of investors have a preference to invest with BTC, while 57 percent were revealed to directly purchase the assets.
The firm also established a cryptocurrency custody service earlier this year and hired a former head of digital assets project from Barclays.
Tom Jessop, head of Fidelity Digital Assets says stated that the company will have the role of mediator, saying that ‘it is what Fidelity’s client wanted from the firm’. Mr. Jessop continued:
“Our clients want to avoid the issues associated with funding on multiple exchanges, both administrative risk, or otherwise, they want something resembling the best price experience, and so we’ll try to do that by bringing liquidity providers, and other sources of liquidity onto our platform. I think effectively a smart order router, or logic, that would interrogate the market, find the best better offer, and allow the client to execute at that price.”
There are more and more traditional financial institutions which are starting to expand their services to also include cryptocurrency products. In addition to Fidelity, stock brokerage firms E*Trade Financial and TD Ameritrade have also been rumored to roll out their own cryptocurrency trading services.
Featured Image: Wealth Management
