Fidelity opens waitlist for new crypto platform
Fidelity Crypto will offer retail clients commission-free trading of Bitcoin and Ether.
Immediately after launch, Fidelity Crypto will only allow investors to trade Bitcoin and Ether / Adobe Stock
Fidelity Investments is gearing up to launch a new crypto trading platform designed for retail customers. The waiting list for the platform, dubbed Fidelity Crypto, opened this morning.
According to Fidelity’s website, the financial services giant’s new crypto service will be made available through the Fidelity Investments app; users will be able to manage their crypto investments and trades via Fidelity Digital Assets, the firm’s existing crypto management platform for institutional customers, which launched last month.
After launch, users of Fidelity Crypto will be able to make trades as long as they have at least $1 in their accounts. The new platform will initially allow for the trade of Bitcoin and Ether – the world’s two leading cryptocurrencies by market cap – but Fidelity says on its website that “additional cryptocurrencies are being evaluated to expand trading opportunities over time.”
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While trading on Fidelity’s new platform will be commission-free, the company also notes that it will factor in a spread – the difference between the execution price and the price at which the order is filled – of 1% for every transaction.
The move from Fidelity – one of the world’s largest financial brokerage firms, currently managing around $9.9tn in assets, according to its website – is the latest signal of mainstream finance’s slow but steady embrace of crypto. Another recent example: last month, MasterCard announced the upcoming launch of Crypto Source, a platform that aims to help banks start offering crypto services to customers.
Fidelity is clearly eager to position itself as a pioneer in the web3 space. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a branded, virtual space called the ‘Fidelity Stack’ in Decentraland. The space offered games, a virtual dancefloor and a course on financial literacy.
Just beneath the sign-up section for the waitlist of Fidelity Crypto, the company provides a warning: “Crypto is highly volatile, can become illiquid at any time, and is for investors with a high-risk tolerance. Investors in crypto could lose the entire value of their investment.”
Fidelity has not specified when its new crypto platform will officially launch.
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