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Fidelity Investments, which began a custody service to store Bitcoin earlier this year, will buy and sell the world's most popular digital asset for institutional customers within a few weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Boston-based firm, one of the largest asset managers in the world, created Fidelity Digital Assets in October in a bet that Wall Street's nascent appetite for trading and safeguarding digital currencies will grow. It also puts Fidelity a step ahead of its top competitors that have mostly stayed on the sidelines so far. The firm said in October that it would offer over-the-counter trade execution and order routing for Bitcoin early this year.
Fidelity would join brokerages E*Trade Financial Corp. and Robinhood in offering cryptocurrency trading to clients, though Fidelity is only targeting institutional customers and not retail investors like E*trade and Robinhood, said the person, who asked not to be named discussing private matters. A study released by Fidelity on May 2 found that 47 percent of institutional investors think digital assets are worth investing in.
