Bitcoin, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies have swung wildly this week as the crypto market undergoes a radical shift – prompting a game-changing warning.
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The bitcoin price crashed below $20,000 per bitcoin as traders braced for a Federal Reserve bombshell, while the ethereum price lost nearly 20% in the wake of its long-awaited upgrade (which some think could play havoc with crypto market dynamics). Other top ten cryptocurrencies including BNB, XRP, solana, cardano and dogecoin also lost ground as regulators surround the crypto market.
Now, after the world’s largest asset manager Blackrock “opened the floodgates for institutions to access bitcoin,” reports have emerged that investment giant Fidelity is considering offering bitcoin trading services to its 34.4 million retail investor base.
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Bitcoin was rocked this week by news $10 trillion asset manager Fidelity is ready to offer … [+]
Fidelity Investments, which boasts $9.9 trillion in assets under administration as of June this year and began mining bitcoin as far back as 2015, is considering opening up the bitcoin and crypto market to its 34.4 million brokerage accounts, is reported by the Wall Street Journal this week.
“After one domino falls, the rest will come. This is exactly the type of confirmation that asset managers need to enter the crypto space themselves,” Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at London-based digital asset brokerage GlobalBlock, said in e- post comments said, adding the move shows Fidelity’s “faith in bitcoin’s longevity.”
Earlier this year, Fidelity sent ripples through the crypto market when it said it would begin allowing its 401(k) retirement savings account holders to invest directly in bitcoin, prompting a backlash from regulators and lawmakers. Influential senator Elizabeth Warren called the plan “extremely troubling,” warning bitcoin could be too risky an investment for retirement savers, while the Labor Department’s acting assistant secretary said he had “serious concerns.”
News of Fidelity’s latest potential bitcoin backing was teased by bitcoin bull and Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, who said, “we’re seeing this institutional push” into bitcoin, reported the WSJ.
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The bitcoin price has bounced back around $20,000 per bitcoin in the past month like the bulls and bears … [+]
“A bird told me, a little bird in my ear, told me Fidelity is going to switch its retail clients to crypto very soon,” Novogratz said on stage at the Salt conference in New York. “I hope that bird is all right.”
Last week, the CEO of crypto trading platform Eight Global, Michael van de Poppe, said he expected Fidelity to start bitcoin trading for retail clients in November. “The adoption is growing and it’s accelerating,” he said placed to Twitter.
In 2021, Fidelity global macro director Jurrien Timmer gave his backing to bitcoin, saying it has a “unique advantage over gold.”
“Bitcoin is gaining credibility, and as a digital analogue of gold, but with greater convexity, my guess is that over time bitcoin will take more market share from gold,” Timmer wrote.
