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Fidelity To Support Ethereum Trading For Institutions

Fidelity Digital Assets is adding support for Ethereum trading for institutional trading effective at the end of the month. The news comes through a widely amplified screenshot of a leaked email that was reportedly sent to the firm’s clients.

Lets take a look at what we know in the early days around this leak, with realized support for Ethereum expected to be just a week away.

Fidelity Digital Assets Makes A Big Stride

Fidelity Investments operates one of the biggest financial institution behemoths on the planet, and has shown continued investment in their digital asset division. While the perspective last year from Fidelity Digital Assets – throughout the midst of the bull market – was that institutional demand for Ethereum was not sufficient, that seems to have changed course. According to reports surrounding the leaked memo, Fidelity Digital is expected to offer Ether buying, selling and trading for institutional clients as early as October 28.

The move is surprising to some, considering the bear market conditions that have persisted this year.

Ether (ETH) trading is expected to be supported later this month for institutional clients of Fidelity Digital Assets, according to leaked memos that have been unveiled this week. | Source: ETH-USD on TradingView.com

The Building Blocks Of Institutional Investment

This announcement, however, might not be surprising to all. A survey conducted by Fidelity Digital last year that engaged financial advisors, high-net-worth investors, hedge funds, family offices, endowments and foundations, and similar businesses across the globe, found that price volatility and lack of fundamentals have been two main drivers behind skepticism around digital asset investments.

One year later, the market has found relatively stability (albeit, bear market stability) compared to years past, and there is more use cases behind Ethereum blockchain-based utility than ever before. Has that been enough for the tide to turn when it comes to institutional investment? This move from Fidelity Digital suggests so. Additional movement throughout this year has suggested Fidelity’s interest in continuing a push into digital assets, too, such as a bullish perspective in recent months from Fidelity’s Director of Macro Jurrien Timmer, and company-wide support for Bitcoin allocations in employee 401k’s. Just last week, the company continued it’s push, launching an Ethereum Index Fund.

We’ll see how institutional investment responds to Fidelity’s new offering, but regardless, it only bodes well for the big-picture future of the broader crypto landscape.

Featured image from FidelityDigitalAssets.com, Charts from TradingView.com
The writer of this content is not associated or affiliated with any of the parties mentioned in this article. This is not financial advice.
This op-ed represents the views of the author, and may not necessarily reflect the views of Bitcoinist. Bitcoinist is an advocate of creative and financial freedom alike.

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How To Add Bitcoin To The Balance Sheet For Corporations, With Saylor & Dorsey

Is your company ready to buy the Bitcoin dip? Saylor and Dorsey will give you the 411 for free.99. The MicroStrategy World annual conference goes live on February 1st. Learn directly from these two titans of the industry, who have definitely been among Bitcoin’s main proponents and promoters over the last few years. 

Michael Saylor has led by example, buying every dip, and is a constant presence in mainstream media. His interviews are more like classes and the attention they get is outstanding. Jack Dorsey, for his part, left Twitter to focus on Bitcoin. Since then, his Block company announced several projects that’ll definitely strengthen the Bitcoin network.

About the MicroStrategy World conference, the press release promises it’ll be “focused on Enterprise Analytics and Bitcoin for Corporations. World 2022 is 100% virtual, and—for the first time ever—access to all sections of the conference is free of charge.” That’s an unbeatable price.

What Will Saylor And Dorsey Talk About?

The conference has two sides, two different events that showcase MicroStrategy’s duality:

“The Enterprise Analytics event will introduce bold new ways to think about analytics and business intelligence, and showcase organizations who’ve used data as a strategic differentiator. The Bitcoin for Corporations event will explore the various benefits of incorporating Bitcoin into corporate initiatives.”

Join me and Keynote Presenter @jack at the 2nd Annual Bitcoin for Corporations Feb 1 & 2. This free, virtual conference is a must for any corporation considering integrating #Bitcoin with their products & services, or adding #BTC to their balance sheet.https://t.co/V9fIkv633q

— Michael Saylor⚡ (@saylor) January 20, 2022

As you might expect, NewsBTC will focus on the second event. It’s important to say that both Dorsey and Saylor’s companies have Bitcoin on their balance sheet. These two put their money where their mouth is, and then some. In any case, what does MicroStrategy World promise?

“An in-depth discussion on Bitcoin between two visionary voices: Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block, Inc., and Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy Inc. This session will be followed by a discussion on Bitcoin Treasury with Phong Le (President and CFO, MicroStrategy). Bitcoin for Corporations will also feature live interviews with industry experts from Coinbase, Deloitte, Fidelity Digital Assets, Genesis, Jefferies, NYDIG, Paxos, and Silvergate Bank.”

It’s noteworthy that Fidelity Digital Assets recently shocked the world by predicting more countries and probably a Central Bank or two would add Bitcoin to their balance sheet in the next few years. Christine Sandler, Fidelity’s Head of Sales & Marketing, will represent the company at the conference. 

Saylor ’s Recent Bitcoin History

Since MicroStrategy first added Bitcoin to its balance sheet in August 2020, the company has increased the bet every few months. They issued common stock. They sold stocks. They bought, and bought, and bought, and bought. In a recent interview, Saylor explained the strategy and NewsBTC reported:

“Look, our long term strategy is kind of like Harvard University. We’re running a university but we have an endowment. MicroStrategy is selling enterprise software. We generate $100 million in cash flow a year – in a good year – and we are reinvesting that cash in our endowment. Our endowment is 100% bitcoin.”

Saylor adds that MicroStrategy plans to acquire and hold bitcoin as a balance sheet. As for the operations, the company will continue to sell its enterprise software everywhere in the world.”

Related to this, about MicroStrategy’s free conference, Saylor said:

“We have gained a wealth of experience and expertise innovating our treasury strategy and evolving our corporate bitcoin acquisition strategy. And we’re pleased to be in a position to share our knowledge—via this curated event—for corporations looking to pursue similar strategies and bold initiatives.”

Dorsey’s Recent Bitcoin History

For his part, Dorsey’s strategy is much different than Saylor’s. He’s working in infrastructure. Dorsey’s fortifying the network’s weak parts. Among other things, Block announced they’re building a decentralized Bitcoin exchange called tbDEX. Released the Lightning Development Kit. And announced they’re working in an open-source ASIC miner. 

On a personal level, Dorsey and rapper Jay-Z put 500 BTC in a blind trust to promote Bitcoin development in Africa and India. And created the Bitcoin Defense Legal Fund to protect developers from all kinds of lawsuits.

BTC price chart for 01/21/2022 on Gemini | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
The Price Of Bitcoin

Despite Saylor’s and Dorsey’s efforts, Bitcoin is bleeding. On one hand, Proof-Of-Stake proponents straight up lied before U.S. Congress in a hearing about Proof-Of-Work’s environmental risks. On the other, there’s a rumor that Russia is considering banning Bitcoin in some capacity. Both of those situations caused panic in the market, and Bitcoin’s price is currently 40% lower than the ATH of $69K. 

Will Michael Saylor buy the dip? 

Featured Image: screenshot from the conference’s website | Charts by TradingView

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Fidelity Digital Assets Expands Crypto Custody Service to Asia

The cryptocurrency-focused arm of financial services giant Fidelity Investments is teaming up with Singapore-based Stack Funds to cater to the growing demand for cryptocurrencies in Asia. A new partnership will bring Stack’s regional clients access to the secure custody services provided by Fidelity Digital Assets, according to a Bloomberg report Thursday. All assets secured through […]