Allegiance to offer crypto trading to retail clients
Fidelity Investments plans to launch Bitcoin trading for retail clients on its brokerage platform, The Wall Street Journal reported the matter Monday, c.iter people with known sources.
The Boston-based investment management company has more than 34.4 million individual brokerage clients on its brokerage platform. Because of this huge customer base, the firm is exploring allowing these retail customers to trade Bitcoin on its brokerage platform.
During a panel discussion at the SALT New York conference on Monday, Mike Novogratz, CEO of crypto investment firm Galaxy, said he had heard Fidelity was moving to offer cryptocurrency to retail clients.
“A bird has told me, a little bird in my ear, that Fidelity is going to switch its retail clients to crypto soon enough. I hope that bird is right,” Novogratz said.
Responding to a request for comment, Fidelity said: “While we have nothing new to announce, expanding our offerings to enable wider access to digital assets remains an area of focus.”
The trillion-dollar manager launched its Bitcoin trading business for institutional investors and hedge funds in 2019. One year later, the firm launched its Bitcoin index fund, which raised over $125 million in investments in May of this year.
Betting on crypto investment
In April, Fidelity Investments made headlines when it began allowing investors to add Bitcoin to their retirement accounts.
Fidelity’s decision to allow its clients to incorporate Bitcoin into their retirement accounts was a landmark first for large retirement plan providers. Fidelity Investments is the country’s largest 401(k) provider.
In May, crypto winter set in, and the industry suffered nearly $1 trillion in losses in one month. Despite that, Fidelity Digital Asset Services, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments, launched plans to double its headcount in a bid that institutional investors’ interest in crypto would persist.
Fidelity’s digital asset arm intended to hire 110 technology workers and 100 customer service staff as it believed institutional demand for crypto trading would increase.
During that time, Fidelity said that falling crypto prices did not affect the company financially, although the flow of new customers slowed. Regardless, the company maintained its commitment to investing in crypto trading technology.
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