Fidelity to Roll Out Ethereum Trading for Institutions Next Week

After starting with Bitcoin, $4.5 trillion asset manager Fidelity is now turning to Ethereum.

“Institutional Ethereum capabilities are coming to the Fidelity Digital Assets platform on October 28, 2022,” Fidelity Digital Assets said in an email sent to its clients. The offering will only be available for Fidelity’s existing institutional clients who already trade or custody Bitcoin, which the firm provided services for beginning in 2018. 

Fidelity has long since shown an interest in crypto assets. Following the Ethereum merge, which completed the network's transition to proof of stake, the asset manager said that many investors are beginning to look at Ethereum "through a new lens.” The upgrade, years in the making, also significantly slowed the supply issuance of ETH.

Fidelity, Bitcoin and Ethereum

The custody offering is not related to Fidelity’s Digital Assets Account, which already lets institutional clients add Bitcoin to their 401(k) retirement savings plans. The firm has already received blowback from certain members of Congress for offering the latter service, particularly from Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren. 

Back in May, Fidelity Digital Assets President Tom Jessop told the Wall Street Journal that the company was hiring over 100 tech workers to build out additional blockchain services, including Ethereum trading and custody. 

Last month, the WSJ reported that Fidelity may soon bring Bitcoin trading to retail customers—a rumor also publicly shared by Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz. 

Fidelity currently provides two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for metaverse and crypto payment-related companies. 

It’s also launched a Bitcoin spot ETF in Canada, but remains unable to do the same in the U.S. due to roadblocks from the Securities and Exchange Commission.