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Fidelity plans to hire Spree to expand crypto services to include Ethereum trading and custody

Fidelity is planning a hiring spree to add ether trading and custody services to its cryptocurrency business. “As the demand for digital assets continues to grow steadily and the market evolves, we will continue to expand our sourcing efforts,” a Fidelity executive explained.

Crypto Loyalty Expansion Services

Fidelity Investments‘ digital asset subsidiary, Fidelity Digital Assets, is expanding its services.

Founded in 2018, Fidelity Digital Assets currently employs around 200 people. The company is looking to fill 110 new positions to focus on assets beyond bitcoin, a Fidelity spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday.

Tom Jessop, President of Fidelity Digital Assets, commented:

As the demand for digital assets continues to grow steadily and the market evolves, we will continue to expand our sourcing efforts.

According to Fidelity product manager Terrence Dempsey, Fidelity Digital Assets has around 400 clients, including registered investment advisers, hedge funds and asset managers.

Until now, the company has only offered institutional investors the ability to store and trade bitcoins.

Jessop explained that the new hires will help build infrastructure to support ether trading and custody services.

Fidelity’s expansion announcement came as the cryptocurrency market lost nearly $500 billion last month. However, the executive noted that cryptocurrency price declines have not had a significant impact on the company’s business and that the company is focused on long-term indicators such as customer demand. He was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying:

We're trying not to focus on crises and focus on some of the longer-term indicators... We're trying to build infrastructure for the future because we measure success over years and decades, not weeks and months.

Last month, Fidelity Investments announced that it was adding bitcoin as an investment option to 401(k) retirement plans.

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Fidelity Lets Customers Fund Their 401K With Cryptocurrencies

Not long ago, Fidelity Investments announced that clients would be able to invest in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin through their 401K and retirement accounts. Additionally, several companies offering 401Ks to their employees could soon see these individuals buying assets like BTC, ether, and perhaps even Dogecoin through their company-funded retirement profiles.

Fidelity advances with encryption

The news was very well received in the crypto space, with many analysts saying it would be a big step towards mainstream status and legitimacy. Financial advisor Ric Edelman, founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, announced in a statement:

This will be remembered as a pivotal moment in the evolution of cryptocurrencies. For the average American worker, their only place to save for retirement is through a company retirement plan. Millions of workers will now start buying bitcoins they would never have otherwise.

However, while Fidelity appears to be implementing various cryptocurrency retention options for its 401K customers, there are a number of individuals and industry leaders who claim that companies are unlikely to use or implement cryptocurrency withdrawal options for employees. Therefore, people who gain access to 401K Fidelity accounts through their companies may not yet have access to bitcoin or its altcoin cousins.

The fact is that it is still a very speculative industry, and many companies are concerned about the well-being of their workers. They don’t want them to pour money into a space that could end up scraping the bottom of the financial barrel the next day. Bitcoin and many other forms of cryptocurrency remain highly volatile, meaning their prices are extremely difficult to predict. These changes come with little to no signal and therefore companies may not want to take the risk right away.

Now, several retirement professionals are emerging to say that if one is really going to fund their retirement accounts with cryptocurrencies through Fidelity, one should take the necessary precautions and expect a little up and down behavior from time to time. . One such figure is Rob Greenman, a financial advisor at Vista Capital Partners. He commented:

Returns are based purely on speculation in the hope that some future buyer will be willing to pay a higher price than the purchase price.

What makes investing in cryptocurrencies risky during retirement is that these funds are most often used to take care of yourself when you are elderly or sick. Therefore, this money is often set aside for medical bills and utility payments, especially when you are no longer of working age.

Crypto can balance some things

Financial advisor Jim Shagawat of Advice Period also did his part, saying about cryptocurrencies:

They don't behave in the same way as stocks, bonds, gold or commodities, so adding them to your investment mix can increase return and reduce risk.
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Fidelity Investments expands its offerings by focusing on the metaverse and ETFs

The international investment firm Fidelity Investments has decided to invest in companies from the metaverse. Fidelity Investments has now launched four new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that would focus on two new products to take advantage of the nascent Web3 space.

ETFs will focus on three broad criteria, namely cryptocurrencies, metaverse and environment, society and governance (ESG).

The Fidelity Metaverse ETF (Ticker FMET) and the Fidelity Crypto Industry and Digital Payments (FDIG) ETF went live on Thursday, April 21.

The Fidelity Crypto Industry and Digital Payments ETF does not provide direct access to cryptocurrencies, but will invest in the companies that support the digital asset industry.

Fidelity Investments will be responsible for building and contributing to the “future state of the Internet”.

Competition in the already crowded metaverse?

Fidelity is entering an already saturated market, where a dozen ETFs are already trading on the market. In addition, there are many companies that have decided to launch “themed” funds for younger generations.

We continue to see demand, particularly from young investors, to access fast-growing industries in the digital ecosystem, and these two themed ETFs offer investors exposure in a family-friendly investment vehicle, said Greg Friedman, Managing Director and Chief ETF Strategy Officer at Fidelity. .

As mentioned above, younger generations have become increasingly familiar with the metaverse.

Along with that, a lot of awareness of where the metaverse could be headed has led the younger generation to explore further.

BlackRock Inc. is one of those companies that has focused on “themed” funds that cater to the younger population.

Fidelity may face stiff competition when it comes to the themed environment, with many companies already operating in the space. However, the size and scale of the company will likely give it an edge over its immediate competitors.

Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas also mentions in his tweet that the investment firm reportedly entered the market at the lowest rate among the other four ETFs tracking the Metaverse.

Fidelity also recently released a Decentraland-based metaverse called the “Fidelity Stack”. This is intended to educate retail investors on the basics of investing.

Related Reading | How Crypto Company Circle Announces $400 Million Backed by Giants BlackRock and Fidelity

Fidelity also intended to launch a Bitcoin Spot ETF

Fidelity continued to push this revolutionary idea to democratize the investments that are ETFs. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to comply.

The US financial regulator has yet to make a decision on this, which is now making the funds launch in other countries with much less difficulty.

For example, Fidelity has just successfully launched the ETF in Canada.

Australia would also receive two Bitcoin Spot ETFs that have been approved for launch in the country.

The asset manager continues to prepare to launch the Cosmos Purpose Bitcoin Access ETF, which refers to investing in the Canadian Purpose Bitcoin ETF.

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Fidelity Investments Launched a Physical Bitcoin ETP in Europe

Fidelity Investments has launched a physical bitcoin exchange-traded (ETP) product in what it says is the growing demand for digital assets among European investors. The fund is listed on Xetra in Frankfurt and will begin trading on Six in Zurich in a few weeks.

The Fidelity ETP comes three months after Invesco launched its bitcoin ETP following increased interest in cryptocurrency investments among asset managers.

The ETP comes after the UK Financial Conduct Authority granted Fidelity Digital Assets an official registration for its digital trading and asset custody business in late 2021.

Previously, Fidelity Digital Assets was listed as a temporary member on the FCA registry, but has now been moved to the FCA permanent registry.

In December 2021, Fidelity Investments launched a Canadian-based physical bitcoin ETF, which currently has around $30 million in assets.

Bitcoin ETP physical loyalty

Fidelity’s physical Bitcoin ETP will be available to institutional and professional investors in Europe and will be domiciled in Germany. However, Fidelity Digital Assets, which is the US-based digital assets arm of Fidelity Investments, will be the custodian of the ETP.

Fidelity Investments head Nick King said the ETP launch was an important step in the company’s ETP offering and the first to offer digital asset products.

The ETP launched with approximately $6 million in assets and will have an ongoing charge of 0.75%.

Fidelity’s managing director for Europe, Christian Staub, said:

“The underlying distributed ledger technology has the potential to revolutionize the financial system over time and disrupt many parts of the financial world with profound implications for investors.”

Fidelity Digital Assets recently conducted a survey that showed that 70% of institutional investors expected to invest in digital assets soon. Additionally, over 90% of those surveyed said they want digital assets that have an allocation within the next five years.