Fidelity Crypto has opened up an early access waitlist for retail investors who want to trade bitcoin
BTCUSD,
and ethereum
ETHE,
Fidelity Digital Assets already lets institutional clients invest in crypto, and in a Wall Street Journal report in September, the financial services giant is contemplating whether to let individual brokerage customers trade bitcoin.
The Fidelity Crypto product for retail investors will offer commission-free bitcoin and ether trading, but will charge up to 1%
According to Fidelity’s website, the new product will offer commission-free bitcoin and ether trading, although it notes that a spread of up to 1% will be charged. The website also notes that “investors in crypto could lose the entire value of their investment” as it’s still highly volatile and can become illiquid at any time.
At the moment, Fidelity is only offering bitcoin and ethereum, because “as of today, they are the top cryptocurrencies by market cap,” the website says. But additional cryptocurrencies are being evaluated, it states.
This isn’t the financial firm’s first move into the crypto space. It already issues a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Canada and ETFs in the US.