Fidelity pursues Bitcoin Custody launch in Q1 2019. Fidelity, the world’s 4th largest asset manager, is set to launch its Bitcoin custody service by the end of Q1 2019. This shows that institutional demand in Bitcoin is strong and still exists.
Bloomberg first broke this story, and cited 3 sources who asked to remain anonymous. They did confirm that the plans, while still private, plan to announce an Ethereum (ETH) custody shortly after the Bitcoin storage.
Fidelity is one of the biggest mutual fund operators in the United States. Fidelity also works with more than 13,000 financial institutions. Their efforts to penetrate into the cryptocurrency sector in late 2018 started with the former president, Tom Jessop, as the company’s corporate business development head.
Since then, Fidelity has introduced plans to move forward with integrating and offering Bitcoin and cryptocurrency options. October, 2018, saw the announcement of the Fidelity Digital Assets.
Fidelity is already working with eligible clients to build products that could handle the inflow of capital from traditional markets to cryptocurrencies. Fidelity has emphasized that it will actively engage in discussions with investors to strengthen the infrastructure supporting asset classes that service cryptocurrency and traditional.
“We are currently serving a select set of eligible clients as we continue to build our initial solutions. Over the next several months, we will thoughtfully engage with and prioritize prospective clients based on needs, jurisdiction and other factors,” Fidelity’s statement read.
Fidelity’s focus on Bitcoin custody and institutional investors couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s coming at a time when major companies in the cryptocurrency sector are shifting towards retail customers, like Coinbase. It also comes at a time when major companies are starting to falter due to the bearish market, such as Bitmain.
Fidelity’s doubling-down on institutional interest and catering to those interests, while most are shifting towards your everyday investor, shows that they’re confident that their approach in the institutional market will pay off. It also shows that Fidelity is confident in their ability to draw new investors into the cryptocurrency market.
This is important to note – institutional investors, as VanEck crypto head Gabor Gurbacs says, needs regulation, transparency, and well-structured investment vehicles. For companies that hold trillions of dollars, Gurbacs further remarked how it’s not important whether Bitcoin is valued at $3000 or $10,000.
“Large financial institutions are more focused on proper market structure than short term price fluctuations. How do we properly value digital assets? How do we custody digital assets? Are their ETFs available with proper market and investor protections? Most large institutions do not really care if Bitcoin ends 2019 at 3,000 or 10,000,” he said.
It’s clear that institutional interest will continue to pour in – we’re getting news regularly about this market. We got confirmation that Nasdaq continues to pour investments into cryptocurrency companies – we also know that Binance recently launched an OTC desk for trading. We’re going to get great news in 2019. What do you think? Let us know on our Facebook page!
