Fidelity Investments is Developing a Cryptocurrency Exchange
Fidelity Investment, a multi-dollar asset manager is discretely developing a cryptocurrency exchange with internal postings being disclosed.
According to reports, the Boston, MA-based firm has advertised internally for a DevOps System Engineer “to help engineer, create and deploy a Digital Asset exchange to both public and private cloud.”
Mentioning unknown sources familiar with the matter, the publication goes on to state that Fidelity, which presently holds $2.4 trillion in assets, has been planning the move for about a year.
The company is also trying to staff to develop “first-class custodian services for Bitcoin and other digital currencies,”
Currently, chosen clients can connect their Coinbase accounts to their Fidelity portfolios, making it possible for them to track their cryptocurrency holdings on the Fidelity platform with their other investments. This new service would permit Fidelity to have crypto assets directly.
It remains uncertain if the cryptocurrency exchange would be made available on the main Fidelity platform or if it would operate as a different entity under the company’s control. It is likewise uncertain when the venue would launch.
Fidelity under CEO Abigail Johnson’s management was one of the first institutions to give the promising cryptocurrency asset class serious consideration.
“I’m a believer,” she said at a cryptocurrency industry conference last May. “I’m one of the few standing before you today from a large financial services company that has not given up on digital currencies.”
The company has made numerous venture investments in different industry firms and supposedly created a small cryptocurrency mining operation that according to Johnson was “actually making a lot of money” despite being established purposely for educational reasons.
The company’s liberal section also permits donors to make bitcoin contributions, and a fund has raised tens of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies over the years, with $22 million made in 2017.
In recent months, cryptocurrency exchanges have been increasing in value with several from this once-opaque industry have met regulators regarding licenses that will improve their legitimacy to large institutions.
Circle, which recently bought cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex has confirmed that it will seek registration as a broker-dealer and alternative trading system (ATS) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and may eventually seek a banking license. It is also claimed that Coinbase talked about similar plans, even if it has not made public confirmation.
Yet, if a recognized firm such as Fidelity launched a cryptocurrency exchange, it would definitely edge closer towards strengthening the legitimacy of this asset class with other financial tools.
