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Fidelity Digital Assets, the crypto arm of asset management giant Fidelity, has been granted a licence by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to trade and store bitcoin.
The limited purpose trust company charter enables Fidelity Digital Assets to move forward with the rollout of its custody service to institutional investors. The platform will now also be able to execute trade orders on behalf of its institutional clients.
Fidelity Digital Assets will now come under the direct supervisory oversight of the NYDFS.
In a Medium blog post the company said: “Our designation as a New York trust company builds on the commitment we've made to our clients to continue to provide the services they require to proceed with confidence in their own work with digital assets.”
“The custody and trade execution services that we provide are essential building blocks for institutional investors’ continued adoption of digital assets,” added Michael O’Reilly, chief operating officer of Fidelity Digital Assets.
“The designation as a New York Trust Company under the supervision and examination of the DFS builds on the credibility and trust we're establishing amongst institutions and other market participants. We will continue to play a leading role in supporting the maturation of the entire ecosystem as we expand our business and the clients we serve.”
— Michael O’Reilly, COO, Fidelity Digital Assets
According to the Financial Times the NYDFS has only issued 23 such licences to companies operating in the crypto space.
“This approval is further evidence that innovation and consumer protection can coexist in New York’s evolving and expanding financial services industry,” said Linda Lacewell, the superintendent of financial services at the DFS.
Although US federal regulators have been somewhat reticent regarding crypto, New York appears keen to compete with other emerging crypto hubs such as Singapore, Switzerland, and Malta.
In other news, in a sign that the US Securities and Exchange Commission might be getting worried about falling behind against the global competition in the light of rumours of a Chinese yuan stablecoin and the impact of the Libra initiative.
Yesterday the SEC said in a statement on its website that it was revisiting the decision to reject the Bitwise bitcoin exchange traded fund.
Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by Gary McFarlane.
