Fidelity Crypto will focus on Bitcoin and Ether initially. The brokerage will make money by charging a 1% spread on trades.
Fidelity Investments is expanding retail access to commission-free cryptocurrency trading services — a move designed to recognize growing mainstream interest in digital assets.
According to CNBC, Fidelity’s new crypto offering will be powered by its subsidiary, Fidelity Digital Assets. Dubbed Fidelity Crypto, the new service will give retail investors the ability to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) with minimal fees. Instead of a commission, Fidelity Crypto will incorporate a 1% spread into every trade. In financial markets, a spread represents the difference between the buy and sell prices quoted for an asset.
Although Fidelity didn’t specify a launch date for the new offering, it has opened up an early-access waitlist to users. The brokerage said it is targeting retail investors for commission-free crypto trading because a significant portion of its customers is already invested in digital assets.
“A meaningful portion of Fidelity customers are already interested in and own crypto,” the asset manager told CNBC in a statement.
Fidelity Digital has expanded its institutional offerings amid the bear market, having only recently launched Ether custody and trading services to its high-net-worth clients. In April of this year, the asset manager announced plans to give retirement savers the ability to invest in Bitcoin directly through their 401(k) accounts.
Related: Fidelity report shows resilience to crypto winter, huge adoption gap among investors
Fidelity has been a major institutional proponent of Bitcoin and digital assets, calling BTC a “superior form of money” that will grow in acceptance. Although most of its efforts have focused on institutional investors, speculation about a retail offering has been growing for some time. As reported by Cointelegraph, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said in September that Fidelity will soon open retail access to crypto.
