Coinspeaker
Fidelity Digital Finally Gets Its NY Trading License

Boston-based mutual fund behemoth Fidelity, that has incorporated more than $2.8 trillion in assets, has finally won its license from the New York State Department of Financial Services, the company confirmed on Tuesday.

Actually it’s the subsidiary of this giant, called Fidelity Digital that has been opting for the license since July this year. The license will enable it to work with New York companies by offering them custody services and cryptocurrency trading.

The company said in the blog post that they “have experienced a high interest level from these firms and anticipate that their increased involvement in this industry would enable more activities and development across the spectrum.”

Tom Jessop, president of Fidelity Digital Assets said:

“We are seeing strong demand and greater diversity of client types. There are more traditional investors. When we started it was crypto funds and hedge funds.”

In the recent interview, Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson stressed their plans is to “storm into the growing cryptocurrency custody niche given that individuals with a significant amount of wealth in crypto have few options for storing their riches.”

Johnson took cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase that has billions of dollars worth of digital assets stored for its customers for an example. Last year it founded its own custody business for third parties.

However, as per Johnson’s words, “Coinbase is still a company that most people had never heard of, and they don’t have the existing relationships with the independent advisers.”

Michael O’Reilly, Chief Operating Officer of Fidelity Digital Assets said:

“The custody and trade execution services that we provide are essential building blocks for institutional investors’ continued adoption of digital assets. The designation as a New York Trust Company under the supervision and examination of the DFS builds on the credibility and trust we’re establishing amongst institutions and other market participants. We will continue to play a leading role in supporting the maturation of the entire ecosystem as we expand our business and the clients we serve.”

Fidelity’s spreading to New York territory, the state with the regulations most severe, proves the company is focused on its Bitcoin plans. For now, only 23 crypto companies, including Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s Bakkt and CME Group Inc have succeeded in securing this license.

Last month Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz commented that if Fidelity allowed its customers to buy Bitcoin, that would be the most bullish thing for Bitcoin. He then said:

“The most bullish thing would be for Abby Johnson to say ‘all my 26 million users can now buy Bitcoin on my platform.’ Hasn’t happened yet.”

Be it as it may, Galaxy Digital, successfully presented its two new Bitcoin funds: the Galaxy Bitcoin Fund and the Galaxy Institutional Bitcoin Fund. The new funds are, for now, collecting base from some of the biggest players in the industry.

The custodians are, you guessed – Bakkt and Fidelity Digital. Bloomberg L.P. is the pricing agent while the Big Four auditing firms Deloitte and Ernst & Young will do the tax and auditing services for both funds. Novogratz said:

“Galaxy continues to have high conviction in bitcoin and has made significant strides in helping to bring a more institutionalized footprint to the digital asset ecosystem. We believe this effort is an important step forward in fulfilling this mission.”

Fidelity Digital Finally Gets Its NY Trading License

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