Fidelity Investments’ cryptocurrency branch Fidelity Digital Assets is expanding to Europe.
On Dec. 17 a Fidelity Digital Assets representative said:
“We plan to provide our services to European institutional investors through our U.K.-registered entity, Fidelity Digital Assets, Ltd”
“We recognize that the regulatory requirements for service providers in the digital assets space is evolving, and we intend to comply with all applicable requirements in the U.K. and elsewhere as we continue to globally expand our services to the institutional investment community.”
Announcing Fidelity Digital Assets, Ltd., for access to our services in Europe. https://t.co/3QuWbXDPrQ pic.twitter.com/XEYLZaJT8Y — Fidelity Digital Assets (@DigitalAssets) December 17, 2019
The move will provide European businesses, such as hedge funds, the opportunity to access Fidelity’s crypto asset services.
Expansion To Europe Requires No Additional Regulatory Licenses
This new expansion to Europe, however, requires no additional regulatory licenses — at least none that Fidelity is aware of.
Fidelity Digital Assets CEO Michael O’Reilly told Financial News:
“Obviously we’ll make sure that we’re compliant with any U.K. or any other licenses that are required, but at this point our understanding is that we do not require any additional licensing to do this in the U.K.”
Services Related To Only BTC As of Now
Upon launch, the UK Fidelity branch will begin operations offering services related only to Bitcoin (BTC). Although the outlet might add other assets in 2020.
“Our focus is presently on Bitcoin, largely driven by what our clients’ needs are”
Fidelity added:
“We employ a robust framework through which we conduct the analysis of which coins we’ll service”.
Source: Cointelegraph