Fidelity to launch commission-free retail crypto trading platform

Fidelity Investments is set to launch a retail crypto trading platform, starting with zero-commission trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

The brokerage has opened up a wait list for its new service Fidelity Crypto, according to its website. It will offer custody and trading of the two tokens, while allowing users to have an integrated view of both crypto and traditional investments. Fidelity doesn’t have a date identified for when customers will receive access, the firm said in an FAQ. Invitations will be sent based on timing of sign-ups and state eligibility.

Fidelity will collect a spread at no more than 1%, according to its website. A spread is the difference between the price users buy or sell crypto and the price at which the brokerage fills their order. Additional cryptocurrencies are being evaluated, the website says.

Retail investors buying digital assets typically use crypto exchanges such as FTX Trading Ltd., Coinbase Global Inc. or brokerage apps such as Robinhood Markets Inc. Boston-based Fidelity pushed into crypto in 2018, when it began offering hedge funds, family offices and trading firms custody services for their digital assets. But until now, it has held off on extending crypto trading to its more than 35 million retail customers.

Already a giant in mutual funds and financial advice, the firm has been looking for ways to reach younger clientele. It has recently designed a new mobile app targeting young adults and introduced an investment account for teenagers.

In October, Fidelity said it’s hiring an additional 100 people for its digital assets unit, which will bring Fidelity Digital Assets’s headcount to roughly 500 by the end of next year’s first quarter.

Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial Inc. have been developing a cryptocurrency trading platform along with retail brokerages Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab Corp., Bloomberg News reported in June.

Fidelity had $9.6 trillion in assets under its administration at the end of September, according to its website.