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Peter Jubber filed a new set of documentation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) telling the financial regulator about the formation of a new fund completely oriented towards Bitcoin. Peter Jubber is the director of digital funds along with being the President of Fidelity and holds an important say in such aspects.
Details of the fund
As of now, not much information has been divulged about the fund as it represents the initial stage. Wise Origin Bitcoin Index fund came into existence this year. It has its headquarters based in Boston where the investment behemoth manages customer funds worth $8.3 trillion. Currently, very little details have been divulged about the fund and no investor has yet participated in the pool. There is also little information about what the minimum investment threshold has been fixed to join the pooled investment fund. As per early reports, it could be $100,000 implying that the fund could be for high-net-worth investors or institutions.
To give a slight peek about how Fidelity would utilize the new fund, the firm went on to make public the results of its survey conducted on 800 institutional investors from the U.S. and Europe. As per the results, 36% of the respondents already were invested in digital assets while 60% believed that they would be investing in digital assets and that it had a place in their portfolio.
Fidelity’s commitment to Bitcoin
Fidelity has always been committed to Bitcoin and the latest development at Fidelity shows that it believes Bitcoin is an investable asset. Fidelity was one of the earliest institutional supporters of Bitcoin back in 2017. The Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson publicly said in 2017 that she would be mining the asset. Now the company has established a further interest in Bitcoin investment by forming the Fidelity Digital assets taking its interest in the crypto further.
In 2019, the New York Department of Financial Services granted a license to Boston-based Fidelity Investments because they became the early believers in the future of blockchain and cryptocurrency that made them establish the subsidiary company Fidelity Digital assets. The license allows the company to offer both cryptocurrency trading and custodial services to companies that are based in the state. The issuance and granting of the license have not been easy in the past considering the notorious nature of Bitlicense or business license of virtual currency activities issued in the state. This has steered many crypto-concentrated businesses out of the state into more friendly states where conducting business was relatively easier.
This is short was not a good sign for the cryptocurrency industry in New York because the prime market for the business left a huge void due to a lack of players. The major problems that companies face are following a set of a high benchmark set by the authorities which the small and medium scale companies find very hard to cope up with.
The mass departure of the companies as a result of BitLicense and the granting of the license to Fidelity was surprising because of the stern financial regulations.