Fidelity Is Taking Its Crypto Biz Into the Asian Market

Fidelity Digital Assets, the cryptocurrency-focused wing of financial services giant Fidelity, is teaming up with a Singaporean startup in a bid to cater to the Asian market, according to reports. 

Fidelity Digital Assets will work with Stack Funds, an investment manager, Bloomberg reported today. 

The partnership will provide crypto custody services and aims to help satisfy growing demand from family offices and the region’s wealthy investors, the report added. 

Bitcoin Is 'Unique' Among Investment Assets, Says Fidelity

Correction: This article previously claimed that Fidelity recommended keeping 5% of a portfolio in Bitcoin. However, the example given was a hypothetical situation, not a recommendation. We have updated the article and the headline to acknowledge this. Bitcoin has behaved unlike any other investment asset available in the market over the past five years, acting on average almost entirely independently, according to financial services giant Fidelity. Fidelity Digital Assets, the cryptocurrency-fo...

Bloomberg also said that all assets will be subject to monthly audits by Stack and that certain protections, such as insurance coverage, will be included. 

Stack Funds is a new company that claims to be “seeking to bridge digital assets to traditional financial investors.” The startup says it provides “a streamlined, secure and simple way to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies and digital assets.”

US investment giant Fidelity has been singing Bitcoin’s praises for years—with a close eye on the Asian market. In August, Hong Kong-based digital asset firm OSL Digital Securities, which is backed by Fidelity, announced it had been granted a license to trade crypto by the region’s markets regulator.

The latest news comes at a time when institutional investors are becoming more interested in the crypto world. Asia’s crypto market is also huge. 

2020 has been a big year for crypto’s transition to the mainstream. Earlier this month, PayPal announced it was launching a crypto buying and selling feature; investment bank JP Morgan said that Bitcoin is now solidly competing with gold as an alternative asset; and hedge fund icon Paul Tudor Jones praised the crypto asset an attractive hedge against inflation.

Bitcoin today is up 3% and trading above $13,600 per coin.