Fidelity shuts down its cryptocurrency fund as Bitcoin staff leaves

Fidelity is one of the largest providers of 401K plans. In addition to that, it provides a wide variety of different investment services as well. It had launched a cryptocurrency fund in the year 2017.

The main aim of launching this fund was to explore the cryptocurrency space. Also, the balance from the main balance sheet was used in order to invest in cryptocurrencies. However, before Spring 2018, it shut down the fund. The reason for the shutdown was that many of the people managing the fund left fidelity.

VP of fidelity leaves

Matt Walsh was the VP of the fidelity fund. He recently left the firm in order to launch his own cryptocurrency VC fund. Also, research analyst at the form, Nic Carter also left the fund in order to join Cassel Island ventures. This company operates a venture capital fund targeted towards the cryptocurrency industry. The spokesperson of the company declined to comment.

This clearly indicates that this was actually a testing phase for the organization. A few high-profile exits made it close the fund. However, one thing which is for sure is that fidelity is pretty serious about such an offering. This might be a possible reason for starting the fund in the first place.

Other financial firms are also trying to start their own cryptocurrency funds. As they venture into the cryptocurrency space, they are planning on providing a lot of different services to their consumers. Goldman Sachs is one such company which is also investing in other companies in the cryptocurrency space. As a result, it is able to provide various services which are related to the cryptocurrency space.

For now, we are not sure if the company has any plans for restarting the cryptocurrency fund or not. Currently, however, it seems like the cryptocurrency fund actually faced a premature end. In the future, one thing which will be for sure is that fidelity will try to hire a bigger team of employees so that it becomes much easier for them to manage the cryptocurrency fund. It is already trying to hire in the cryptocurrency department. Recently, it hired Tom Jessop, who is a Goldman Sachs’s executive. He was responsible for corporate business development. This clearly indicates that fidelity has not given up on the platform.

It remains to be seen whether such a fund restarts once again or if the fund has been completely shut down. Till now, however, there is no word of fidelity.

Source: BusinessInsider