Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investment Inc., has announced plans to expand the number of its staff so that to meet the rising demands for crypto services from institutional investors, according to a Bloomberg report.
The subsidiary intends to hire about 100 employees in technology and operations across Salt Lake City, Boston, and Dublin. Tim Jessop, the president of Fidelity Digital assets, said that the employees would assist in developing new products and expanding into other crypto assets apart from Bitcoin.
Fidelity Digital Assets was established in 2018, and since the firm has been providing custody, trading, and other services for Bitcoin.
In 2020, the year “was a real breakthrough year for space, given the interest in Bitcoin that accelerated when the pandemic started,” Jessop stated.
Unlike most financial markets, which close in the afternoons and on weekends, Fidelity Digital Assets plans to provide cryptocurrency trading throughout most of the weeks. Jessop said that firm intends to be a place where the trading of crypto assets is full-time for most of the weeks.
Jessop acknowledged that the demand from institutional investors to get access to Bitcoin, Ether, and other virtual currencies is increasing. He stated that Fidelity Digital Assets has witnessed using interest in Ethereum cryptocurrency, so it wants to be ahead of that demand.
“Bitcoin has been the entry for a lot of institutions. It’s now really opening up a window on what else is going on in the space. A big shift is in “the diversity of interest” from new and existing customers,” Jessop said.
He disclosed that the first clients for Fidelity Digital Assets appear to be hedge funds and family offices. The number of corporations and retirement advisers seems to expand, who seek to hold crypto tokens as an asset class.
Why More Mainstream Acceptance?
After years of hesitation and resistance to adopt crypto assets, it appears that the floodgates are eventually opening, like retail outlets, credit card firms, banks, and even vehicle manufacturers are making major shifts.
With major endorsements from Silicon Valley billionaires such as Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk, Bitcoin price rose to $65,000 this year, with some speculating that it could hit $100,000 by 2022.
Major companies such as credit card giant Mastercard, Apple Inc, Tesla, and others have moved into the sector. Despite Bitcoin declined its value and currently trading at $33,226 due to regulatory concerns, firms continue to accept the cryptocurrency for transactions or invest heavily into it with corporate finance itself.
This year began with a rush by institutional and retail investors searching for dollar alternatives and high-yielding assets amid rock-bottom or even negative interest rates globally.
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