Fidelity Expands Crypto Suite With Ethereum Index Fund

Fidelity is offering customers exposure to ether as the brokerage broadens its crypto offerings in the face of a recent slump in the market. The Boston-based finance giant has launched an Ethereum Index fund, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from Tuesday showed. 

The fund has already raised $5 million since sales began on Sept. 26. But just one unnamed investor appears to have invested in the offering so far. 

Only sophisticated investors who are able to provide a minimum investment of $50,000 are authorized access to the fund. Crypto index funds are passively managed and track the performance of an asset, like ether in Fidelity’s latest product.

Ethereum’s Merge has drawn the attention of industry participants, with many paying closer attention to the blockchain’s growing potential, Ben Dean, director of digital assets at WisdomTree in Europe, told Blockworks.

Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake “completely changes the investment case for ether,” Dean said.

WisdomTree has launched index products tracking major cryptoassets in Europe, including ether.

Blockworks recently reported that Fidelity’s digital assets arm was looking to offer its institutional investors the ability to buy, trade and sell custody ether by the end of the year. Jack Neureuter, a research analyst at Fidelity Digital Assets, agreed the Merge is “likely to increase the overall levels of interest in the asset for many institutional investors, particularly over a long enough timeframe.”

Fidelity, immersed in crypto since 2018, launched the Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund in August 2020, enabling customers the ability to gain exposure to bitcoin. That fund garnered $102 million within just nine months of its launch. The firm also reportedly plans to offer bitcoin trading on its platform to retail clients.

A 2021 report by Fidelity states that 40% of crypto hedge funds and venture capitalists were interested in gaining exposure to digital assets.

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