Monitoring desk
\nBoston
\nMulti-trillion dollar asset manager Fidelity Investments is building a cryptocurrency exchange, internal job postings have revealed.
\nAccording to Business Insider, the Boston, MA-based firm has advertised internally for a DevOps System Engineer \u201cto help engineer, create and deploy a Digital Asset exchange to both a public and private cloud.\u201d
\nCiting anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter, the publication further reported that Fidelity, which currently manages $2.4 trillion in assets, has been planning the initiative for approximately one year.
\nThe company is also seeking staff to develop \u201cfirst-in-class custodian services for Bitcoin and other digital currencies.\u201dThe latter position falls under the Fidelity Digital Asset Service division, which handles the firm\u2019s limited cryptocurrency-related services.
\nAt present, select clients can link their Coinbase accounts to their Fidelity portfolios, enabling them to view their cryptocurrency holdings on the Fidelity platform alongside their other investments. This new service would allow Fidelity to hold cryptoassets directly.
\nIt\u2019s not clear whether the cryptocurrency exchange would be made available on the main Fidelity platform or whether it would exist as a separate entity under the company\u2019s umbrella. Nor is it clear when the venue would launch.
\nUnder CEO Abigail Johnson\u2019s leadership, Fidelity was one of the first institutions to give the nascent cryptocurrency asset class a serious look.
\n\u201cI\u2019m a believer,\u201d she said at a cryptocurrency industry conference last May. \u201cI\u2019m one of the few standing before you today from a large financial services company that has not given up on digital currencies.\u201d
\nThe firm has made venture investments in several industry companies and reportedly even set up a small cryptocurrency mining operation that Johnson said was \u201cactually making a lot of money\u201d even though it had been established primarily for educational purposes.
\nThe company\u2019s charitable wing also allows donors to make contributions in bitcoin, and the fund has collected tens of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies over the years \u2014 including $22 million in 2017 alone.
\nCryptocurrency exchanges have seen soaring valuations in recent months, and a number from this once-opaque industry have approached regulators about acquiring licenses that would help demonstrate their legitimacy to large institutions.
\nCircle, which recently acquired cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex, has revealed that it will pursue registration as a broker-dealer and alternative trading system (ATS) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and may ultimately pursue a banking license. Coinbase has reportedly discussed similar plans, though it has not given public confirmation.
\nHowever, if a firm as large and well-known as Fidelity launched a cryptocurrency exchange, it would undoubtedly go much further toward cementing the legitimacy of this asset class alongside other financial instruments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monitoring desk Boston Multi-trillion dollar asset manager Fidelity Investments is building a cryptocurrency exchange, internal job postings have revealed. According to Business Insider, the Boston, MA-based firm has advertised internally for a DevOps System Engineer \u201cto help engineer, create and deploy a Digital Asset exchange to both a public and private cloud.\u201d Citing anonymous sources […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-27255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n