Fidelity Digital Assets Launches UK Branch In Line With Local Laws

Fidelity Investments’ cryptocurrency branch Fidelity Digital Assets is expanding to the United Kingdom.

“We plan to provide our services to European institutional investors through our U.K.-registered entity, Fidelity Digital Assets, Ltd,” a Fidelity Digital Assets representative told Cointelegraph on Dec. 17, saying:

“We recognize that the regulatory requirements for service providers in the digital assets space is evolving, and we intend to comply with all applicable requirements in the U.K. and elsewhere as we continue to globally expand our services to the institutional investment community.”

The move into the U.K. will provide European businesses, such as hedge funds, the opportunity to access Fidelity’s crypto asset services, although Fidelity is taking this leap without any extra regulatory licenses, as no additional approvals are statedly required, according to a post from Financial News London.

Fidelity originally launched its digital asset services branch in the U.S. in 2018, providing crypto asset custody and trade execution to institutional players such as hedge funds third party intermediaries, Cointelegraph reported. 

The Boston-based digital asset service provider also received the green light for operation in New York from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in November 2019.

This new expansion to Europe, however, requires no additional regulatory licenses — at least none that Fidelity is aware of.

Fidelity Digital Assets CEO Michael O’Reilly told Financial News:

“Obviously we’ll make sure that we’re compliant with any U.K. or any other licenses that are required, but at this point our understanding is that we do not require any additional licensing to do this in the U.K.”

Upon launch, the UK Fidelity branch will begin operations offering services related to Bitcoin (BTC) only.

“Our focus is presently on Bitcoin, largely driven by what our clients’ needs are,” Fidelity told Cointelegraph, although the outfit might add other assets in 2020.

“We employ a robust framework through which we conduct the analysis of which coins we’ll service,” Fidelity added.