Fidelity Investment Extends Cryptocurrency Trading Services to Retail Investors

• Fidelity Investments is launching Fidelity Crypto to offer its customers Ethereum and Bitcoin trading.
• Traders will pay up to 1% on every transaction and trade for as little as $1. 
• The innovation has a major drawback in that Ethereum and Bitcoin cannot be sent or received. 
• Fidelity Investments announced commission-free trading for Bitcoin and Ether on Nov. 3.
• The firm has offered Bitcoin trading services to institutional investors since 2018.

Fidelity Investment has taken another giant step towards providing cryptocurrency products for its customers. Recently, the firm announced the launching of Fidelity Crypto, a new cryptocurrency service for individual investors.

It is worth noting that over 40 million Fidelity Investment customers can now access cryptocurrency services under this initiative. As revealed, Fidelity Investments will offer its customers the chance to trade Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC), allowing them to use the two tokens for online payments and access blockchain-based products. 

Another notable crypto option for users is the sale of Bitcoin and Ethereum for Fiat. Further, the firm will charge up to 1% on every trading activity and allow users to trade for as low as $1. 

In this regard, Fidelity Investment surpasses some notable cryptocurrency exchanges in terms of transaction charges. 

However, a major setback for the innovation is that users cannot send or receive Ethereum and Bitcoin. This implies that Fidelity Investment users can only buy and sell tokens on its platform.

Call for Crypto Trading Services and Extension to Individual Investors

Fidelity Investments first announced it was launching commission-free retail crypto trading for Bitcoin and Ether on Nov. 3.

The introduction of the initiative was due to increasing calls from the firm’s customers for cryptocurrency services. 

Additionally, the firm followed the paths of Binance and Robinhood as the third company to offer a commission-free cryptocurrency trading service. Gradually, a zero-fee trading commission is gaining more relevance in the industry, making it a trend cryptocurrency exchanges are willing to adopt to attract new users.

It’s imperative to note that, before now, the firm has been offering Bitcoin trading services to institutional investors since 2018. Recently, the firm added ETH trading for institutional investors, but the newly launched crypto trading services will extend to retail investors.

On the Flipside

• Though access to retail crypto trading services is a positive step forward, Fidelity Investments does not yet allow its users to move their digital assets across wallets.

Why You Should Care

Under its care, Fidelity investment has about $9.9 trillion worth of users assets as of June 30, 2022. At a time when the market appears to be struggling, the recent development may provide more exposure to digital assets.

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