The Wall Street Journal reported that Fidelity Investments may allow retail investors to trade bitcoin, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Fidelity Investments is considering allowing individual investors to trade bitcoin on its brokerage platform. The publication, citing people close to the matter, said that Fidelity had not yet told clients, but it was working on bringing investment options to more than 34.3 million brokerage accounts.
Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital and one of Fidelity’s early crypto clients, has also talked about Fidelity’s plan to bring crypto to retail clients. Novogratz was speaking at the SALT conference, saying,
“A bird told me that Fidelity, a little bird in my ear, is soon going to move its retail customers to crypto. I hope the bird is right. And so we are seeing this institutional march.
Currently, Fidelity allows bitcoin to be part of their 401k retirement accounts. This caught the attention of people inside the industry as well as the government. Lawmakers are concerned because they believe crypto is a risky asset class that could affect savings.
Fidelity, a longtime proponent of bitcoin
Fidelity has long been a supporter of bitcoin – the company has been mining BTC since 2015 and has bought 7.4% of bitcoin mining company Marathon in four index-based funds. Through its mining operations, the firm has earned a handsome amount of money.
Its bitcoin 401k account has been getting the most attention in recent months. Fintech startups are also joining the 401k bandwagon, with Bitcoin IRA and ForUsAll also offering or working on related investment options.
Fidelity is also expanding its offering to include the Metaverse ETF. The Fidelity Metaverse ETF allows for investments in a rapidly growing space, and it could prove popular among investors interested in Web3 as well.
Novogratz also hints at expansion for retail investors
Novogratz’s word is an optimistic sign in Fidelity’s retail space. The company’s CEO, Abigail Johnson, has also said that the long-term goal is to expand reach, which is another sign that retail investors may not be getting away.
Past reports stated that Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial were building a crypto trading platform with Fidelity and Charles Schwab. In any case, it looks like the crypto market is set to expand in the coming years.