- In an email sent to clients, Fidelity digital assets will offer institutional Ethereum capabilities for its clients beginning next week.
- This new announcement follows the recent launch of Fidelity’s Ethereum index fund.
The crypto unit of Fidelity investments (a $4.5 trillion asset management firm), Fidelity Digital Assets, has announced that it would start allowing its institutional clients to access its Ether Trading and Custody services before this month’s end.
Popular stock broker and investor, Bruce Fenton, tweeted the image of an email purportedly from Fidelity digital assets. The email states that this new investment product will become available by October 28, 2022.
Fidelity Digital Assets just sent an email to customers announcing that Ethereum will be available for purchase this month. pic.twitter.com/3V0GCrOt5z
— Bruce Fenton (@brucefenton) October 19, 2022
According to the post, investors can perform Ethereum transactions under the same model as Fidelity’s Bitcoin investments. In the email, Fidelity stated that the completion of the Ethereum merge means that investors now have a different view of the blockchain. The merge saw the Ethereum network shift to a pos (proof-of-stake) consensus mechanism.
Fidelity has been a long-term advocate of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In a previous official release, Fidelity said that it believes that cryptos are more than just tech. It added that cryptos are a better type of money than fiat.
Fidelity’s suite of crypto investment products
The new announcement follows Fidelity’s launch of a new Ethereum index fund. According to an October 4 filing, the new Index Fund raised more than $5 million from a single investor on its first sale on September 26. Earlier in the year, Fidelity announced that it would soon start to allow its 401(k) retirement saving holders to have a direct investment in Bitcoin.
Last year, the company also revealed that it surveyed its top clients regarding their interest in cryptocurrency investments. The poll showed that 90 percent of the respondents wanted to invest in cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin. Hence, the company said it would launch various crypto products that suit its retail investor base.
Last month, Mike Novogratz (CEO of the asset manager Galaxy Digital) claimed that Fidelity plans to offer bitcoin investments to its nearly 35 million retail investors. Nevertheless, Fidelity has issued any official statement regarding this matter. Also, the company hasn’t responded to media queries regarding the matter.
In march 2021, Fidelity formally sought the approval of the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) to own its Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) by submitting an S-1 document to the commission. Four months later, Fidelity invested $20 million in us based crypto miner, Marathon Digital Holdings, to own 7.4 percent of the mining firm.
Meanwhile, the Fidelity announcement hasn’t positively affected Ethereum’s price. The price of the second largest digital asset is down by 0.2 percent in the last 24 hours and currently trades at $1,298, according to our data.
Perhaps, Ethereum’s price will soar once Fidelity releases an official statement regarding the new investment opportunity. Regardless, it is likely that Fidelity isn’t done with launching crypto investment products for its client base.
