Fidelity Digital Assets Receives License From New York’s Financial Services Department

By Amit Chowdhry ● Nov 21, 2019
  • Fidelity Digital Assets, the cryptocurrency arm of Fidelity Investments, announced that it received a license from New York’s financial regulator

Fidelity Digital Assets — the cryptocurrency arm of Fidelity Investments — revealed that it received a license from New York’s financial regulator, according to Reuters. The limited-purpose trust company charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) is going to allow Fidelity Digital Assets to offer its cryptocurrency trading and custody services to companies based in the state of New York.

“The custody and trade execution services that we provide are essential building blocks for institutional investors’ continued adoption of digital assets,” said 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.”

Fidelity said it received a high interest level from these firms and it is anticipating “their increased involvement in this industry would enable more activities and development across the spectrum.”

Fidelity Digital Assets launched in 2018. And it has completed the Service Organization Control (SOC) 1 Type 1 report with an independent service auditor. A SOC 1 Type 1 report describes the operational controls for institutional custody services as well as the independent audit firm’s opinion that these controls were suitably designed for providing reasonable assurance to achieve control objectives.

Tom Jessop, the president of Fidelity Digital Assets, told Reuters that the demand for digital currencies has been shifting since the launch of the company. In the next year, Fidelity Digital Assets plans to start offering its services for other types of cryptocurrencies.

“We are seeing strong demand and greater diversity of client types,” Jessop explained via Reuters. “There are more traditional investors. When we started it was crypto funds and hedge funds.”