As you all probably know, Fidelity is one of the biggest asset managers in the world. It boasts at least $2.46 trillion in assets under management (AUM).
That’s why the crypto world was shocked in 2018 when Fidelity announced that it was launching Fidelity Digital Assets to manage bitcoin for clients. Fidelity Digital Assets is designed for large institutional clients.
Now, Fidelity has announced a new crypto offering: a bitcoin index fund called Wise Origin Bitcoin Index Fund I. Here’s an excerpt from Bloomberg’s reporting.
The passively-managed, Bitcoin-only fund will be made available to qualified purchasers through family offices, registered investment advisers and other institutions, according to a person familiar with the matter. Fidelity Digital Assets will custody the fund, the person said. The minimum investment is $100,000.
The $100,000 minimum means that Fidelity is going after smaller clientele with this product. I think it may be slowly working its way towards a product for retail investors. Clearly Fidelity is looking to compete more directly with Grayscale — which pulled in $900 million in the second quarter, according to the same Bloomberg article I linked to above.
This is yet another exciting development for institutional adoption of cryptocurrency. Competition is picking up in the institutional crypto world. And that’s a great thing for all us holders. It means fees will likely drop, service will improve and more big firms will feel comfortable buying.
I continue to favor bitcoin over altcoins in this crazy economic environment. I believe BTC has the strongest fundamental use case by far — as well as the most interest from institutional investors.
While some altcoins (such as chainlink) are flying higher, I am not convinced of their fundamental usefulness. More than anything else, I see Chainlink in particular as a streamlined marketing machine. What the project has accomplished in terms of awareness and brand is impressive. But I don’t have long-term confidence in it. Its current market cap of over $5 billion is a bit mind-boggling.
So I continue to watch and wait for promising upcoming pure cryptocurrency altcoins — especially privacy coins. And I continue to like decred, nano and monero.