The financial giant will now allow customers to trade bitcoin, although they cannot withdraw it in self-custody.
Fidelity Investments clients can now buy bitcoin through the broker. The Fidelity Crypto platform, first opened on a waitlist in November 2022, is now publicly available since yesterday.
Customers can buy and sell bitcoins, although they cannot transfer them to a self-custody wallet where the user controls their private keys. When the waiting list was launched, there were mention of this capability to come later, but no details or roadmap were provided beyond that.
When trading, clients will not be charged a “fee”, but a 1% spread, which Loyalty defined as “the difference between the price at which you buy or sell crypto in your Fidelity Crypto account and the price at which Fidelity Digital Assets fills your order”. This discrepancy will be visible in the client’s execution price.
Trading will only be available to US residents over the age of 18 in eligible states.
Fidelity’s foray into cryptocurrency has not been without criticism, with a group of senators saying in a letter to the financial company:
“Fidelity Investments has chosen to expand beyond traditional finance and delve into the highly volatile and increasingly risky digital asset market.”
But that apparently didn’t stop Fidelity.
While their introduction of service to the public may be welcome, it is precisely at times like the current banking crisis that extra emphasis needs to be placed on self-care. Trust in exceptionally large institutions, like Fidelity, is what led to last week’s fiasco.
So, although Fidelity is often considered a trusted institution, it should still be noted that trusted third parties are security holesand that the only real way to use bitcoin sovereignly is to hold your own private keys.