Most financial industry enthusiasts will have come across the name Fidelity Investments. It is one of the largest investment firms to date, managing US$2.3 trillion worth of assets as of today. Unlike most other firms, however, Fidelity has taken a keen interest in cryptocurrencies. In fact, the company is even mining specific currencies, although not too many specifics have been shared at this time.
Fidelity Investments Mines Cryptocurrency
When it comes to bridging the gap between traditional finance and cryptocurrency, look no further than Fidelity Investments, Although the company has been doing well without a specific focus on cryptocurrency, it is not ignoring the possibilities that lie ahead. More specifically, the company has been experimenting with Bitcoin internally for quite some time now. In the near future, some of those features will be rolled out to all Fidelity customers, by the looks of things.
And it doesn’t stop there. Fidelity Investments has also made some strategic contributions to Bitcoin startups. Additionally, the company has been looking for new use cases involving blockchain technology. While a lot of use cases revolve around the financial sector, the possibilities go far beyond any one industry. Identifying those key areas is of the utmost importance to the company; that much is evident.
However, those are not the things which have the cryptocurrency community abuzz right now. Instead, it is the fact that Fidelity is actively mining cryptocurrency that’s baffling so many people right now. Although no one should really be surprised by such a development, it goes to show there are players in the financial industry who do not oppose the concept of mining Bitcoin and altcoins by any means. Although this is only a small operation, it is a pretty intriguing development regardless.
According to Quartz, the company is mining both Bitcoin and Ethereum right now. Abigail Johnson, chief executive of Fidelity Investments, confirmed as much, although she stated it was only for “educational purposes”. Even if that were the original idea, the operation has started turning a small profit. This is mainly thanks to the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum having skyrocketed throughout 2017. If the trend continues, even smaller mining operations around the world could turn out to be rather profitable.
Interestingly enough, it appears Fidelity has purchased its mining hardware from 21 Inc. That company is best known for its Bitcoin Computer project, which got a lukewarm reception from the overall cryptocurrency community. It is unclear how many units were purchased or what type of mining power Fidelity currently controls, though. It is safe to assume this “small” operation is rather limited in power, considering it was only set up for educational purposes. That doesn’t mean the company won’t buy additional hardware in the future, even if it doesn’t appear to be a priority right now.
It is good to see Fidelity Investments demonstrating confidence in the cryptocurrency industry. In doing so, the company pushes back against what JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dixon stated about Bitcoin not too long ago. Some financial service providers see the merit in Bitcoin, whereas others will continue to ignore what they can’t control. Only time will tell which approach works out best in the long run. For now, Fidelity is pretty confident Bitcoin and its brethren will stick around, even though they are not going all-in on cryptocurrency by any means.
