Fidelity Digital Assets plans to increase headcounts to support adding trading and custody services


According to Wall
Street Journal (WSJ) report, on Tuesday Fidelity Digital Assets which digital
assets subsidiary of financial services giant Fidelity Investments, is planning
to expand its offerings beyond bitcoin. The firm seeking to add trading of ether
and custody services to its cryptocurrency business. To support this the firm
has planned to expand its hiring efforts this year.
The firm is
planning to add 110 employees in tech roles, recruiting engineers and
developers with blockchain experience to meet the growing demand for crypto
trading from institutional investors said president Tom Jessop as per the report.
Till now the
company was only offering the ability to store and trade bitcoin to the
institutional investors. These new hires will support in building out
infrastructure that will support custody and trading services for ether. The
firm focuses to provide faster transactions and 24-hour trading support including
compliance and tax-reporting tools.
Fidelity Digital
Assets is founded in 2018. Currently, there are 200 people. Fidelity’s product
manager, Terrence Dempsey said Fidelity Digital Assets has around 400 clients
currently which includes registered investment advisers, hedge funds, and asset
managers.
Recently in
April Fidelity Investments announced allowing customers to invest in bitcoin
with their 401(k) plans later this year, the first major retirement-plan
provider to embrace cryptocurrency as a savings vehicle. After this, the move by
Fidelity Digital Asset Services comes.
In spite of the
recent decline in cryptocurrency prices, the company plans to invest in
crypto-trading technology. During the past month, the crypto market has shed
nearly $500 billion. Although declines in crypto prices have had no significant
impact on the company's business, the executive continues to focus on
longer-term indicators, such as client demand.
On Tuesday
Bitcoin traded higher above $31,000. in May it was heading for a 16% decline.
It's lost roughly 31% year to date. On Tuesday Ether also rose to trade at
$1,960. It was down about 29% in May and 47% so far in 2022.

Indrani bose
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA