RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Fidelity Investments, which has a large operation in the Triangle, is launching a new company focusing on cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, and some of its workers will be based locally, according to the company.
Fidelity, which has more than $7 trillion under management, announced the launch of Fidelity Digital Assets on Monday. And there will be a North Carolina connection.
“A number of Fidelity Digital Assets employees will be based at our North Carolina campus,” a Fidelity spokesperson tells WRAL TechWire.
Fidelity Investments logo
However, how many would be located in the Triangle and what kids of jobs will be available was not disclosed.
“[W]e are not providing details just yet on specific jobs and locations,” the spokesperson notes.
Fidelity Digital will be based in Boston and be led by veteran executive Tom Jessop. Jessop spent some 17 years at Goldman Sachsthen went to work for Chain, a blockchain startup, as president last year. He joined Fidelity earlier this year as head of corporate business development.
Through the new company, Fidelity said it will offer “custody and trade execution services” to “sophisticated institutional investors such as hedge funds, family offices and market intermediaries.”
In the announcement, Jessop noted:
“We started exploring blockchain and digital assets several years ago, and those efforts have been successful in helping us understand and advance our thinking around cryptocurrencies. The creation of Fidelity Digital Assets is the first step in a long-term vision to create a full-service enterprise-grade platform for digital assets.”
Fidelity says in one of its surveys “found that 70 percent of institutional investors said that new asset classes will likely emerge because of advancing technologies, such as blockchain. With the rise of interest in digital currencies and various use cases, institutional investors — such as hedge
funds, family offices and market intermediaries — look to enter the market for a number of reasons.”
