A subsidiary of one of the largest investment funds in the world, Fidelity, is «plunging» into the crypto sphere. Fidelity Investments’ digital assets division will increase its workforce by about 70% to support the cryptocurrency business in response to demand from institutional investors. Bloomberg writes about it.
Tom Jessop, President of Fidelity Digital Assets, said the increase in staff is needed to move towards the development and delivery of services related to digital assets. Recall that currently Fidelity Digital Assets provides services related to bitcoins, including a storage service for such digital assets, as well as trading. The company highly appreciated the effectiveness of work in the direction of bitcoin services.
“Bitcoin hit an all-time high above $ 63,000 earlier this year, and other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, also rose […]. We are seeing interest in broadcasting, so we want to get ahead of this demand, «- said Jessop.
However, as noted by Jessop, “we see a lot of interest in the Ethereum altcoin, and we want to be one step ahead of the development of demand trends” in the field of financial instruments. Jessop also stressed that Fidelity Digital Assets wants to significantly increase the hours during which clients of the organization can trade digital assets, given that the market for such assets is open 24/7, seven days a week.
The interest of institutional investors in the cryptosphere is multifaceted. So, almost simultaneously with information from Fidelity Digital Assets, it became known that Capital International Group acquired a 12.2% stake in the equity capital of MicroStrategy, which is known as one of the world’s largest institutional investors in bitcoins. With about $ 560 million in MicroStrategy shares, Capital International Group has become the second outside investor in MicroStrategy after the Black Rock investment fund.
In April 2021, Jessop suggested that digital gold has reached a tipping point in institutional adoption.
Later, the Chicago Board Options Exchange applied for a Bitcoin ETF listing from Fidelity Investments. The US Securities and Exchange Commission began its consideration at the end of May.
