Fidelity Digital Assets Plans to Double Staff This Year: Report

Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of the financial services giant Fidelity Investments, plans to double its headcount this year to meet the growing demand for crypto trading from institutional investors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

• The business is planning to add 110 employees in tech roles, including engineers and developers with blockchain experience, Fidelity Digital Assets President Tom Jessop said, according to the report.
• The expanded headcount will be used to build infrastructure to offer trading of ether. Fidelity Digital Assets has hitherto offered only bitcoin (BTC) support.
• It aims to provide faster transactions and 24-hour trading support as well as compliance and tax-reporting tools.
• Growing its tech team and providing support ether (ETH) support would signal Fidelity's intent to expand into the crypto industry.
• "The incredible energy around digital assets as an emerging asset class makes this an interesting time for anyone looking to move into a career in the space, including those working in more traditional areas within financial services," Jessop said.
• The financial services firm, which has over $4.5 trillion assets under management, said last month it will allow investors to put bitcoin into their 401(k) retirement savings accounts later this year.
• Fidelity Digital Assets now has about 400 clients, including investment advisers, hedge funds and asset managers, head of product Terrence Dempsey said, according to WSJ's report.

Read more: Coinbase Pares Back Hiring Plans Amid Weak Earnings, Poor Market Condition

UPDATE (14:10 UTC May 31): Adds quote from Tom Jessop and removes reference to Fidelity not responding to CoinDesk's request for comment.