The plans of Fidelity to corner the crypto market seems to be more ambitious than was imagined previously as the asset manager is looking to set more institutional pathways to crypto.
In an interview with the Boston Globe recently, the Fidelity Digital Assets’ head of sales and marketing, Christine Sandler, said the institutional interest is growing. For the majority of the investors, their entry into the crypto space has been more of Bitcoin than Ethereum.
The head of Fidelity Digital Assets, Tom Jessop, said the COVID-19 pandemic played a major role in motivating investors to dive into the crypto space:
He said, “it is the pandemic that got people off the fence because there is this scarce currency – with just 21 million BTC in circulation – and an environment where the currency is devalued and tons of it are printed.”
It is not a thing to hide that many institutional investors are participating carefully in the crypto market this year for the first time. The interest of most institutions is to get Bitcoin or Ethereum directly. However, Fidelity seems to be a step ahead of others, and they are aiming to be the pioneer to set the pace for others by providing the necessary infrastructure that investors needed to access the market.
Earlier in March this year, Fidelity formally submitted the S-1 document to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to seek approval to launch their Bitcoin ETF called Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust. By July end, the firm has acquired about 7.4% of the total stake of the North American Crypto Miner Marathon Digital Holdings, worth $20 million.
Also, Fidelity created its special venture capital division named Devonshire Investors, investing in crypto startups like Talos, ErisX, and Coin Metrics.
The motivation of the company has been fueled by the increasing demands from clients to access investment opportunities in the crypto space. A more similar trend has been noticed across the banks and institutional funds in the United States and even globally.
As reported earlier by most crypto blogs, JPMorgan, a bank in the United States, is now offering access to six crypto-dedicated funds to its clients. After criticizing cryptocurrency initially, firms like Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and BlackRock have shown a positive disposition to BTC. Meanwhile, a survey organized by Nickel Digital Asset Management, a crypto fund based in London, has revealed that most wealth managers are expected to open themselves to crypto exposure in years to come.