Fidelity Investments expands bitcoin arm to Europe

Investment giant Fidelity has expanded its cryptocurrency-focused business, Fidelity Digital Assets, to Europe. According to Financial News, it has appointed Chris Tyrer, a former managing director at the investment bank Barclays, to head the overseas business.

To do so, Fidelity has created a UK entity to run the business—despite the possiblity of a no-deal Brexit happening in the near term.

Fidelity, which has 13,000 clients and $7.2 trillion under administration, launched its cryptocurrency arm in October last year. Fidelity Digital Assets offers enterprise-grade custody services for cryptocurrencies. It currently only supports bitcoin, but plans to expand to other cryptocurrencies, starting with Ethereum in 2020.

On the news, Anthony Pompliano, co-founder at Morgan Creek Digital tweeted, "This is a global game. Even the large Wall Street players realize that. "

Fidelity has also made other moves in the crypto space. In July, it invested in New York-based startup Fireblocks, a platform for keeping cryptocurrencies secure when they’re moved among exchanges, over-the-counter trading desks, brokerages, and in-house transactions between exchanges’ own wallets.

Fidelity's latest move to increase its crypto coverage comes despite the price of bitcoin dropping even lower this year. What does it know that we don't?