Fidelity’s Bitcoin Custody Service Could Launch This March

Fidelity Investments, one of the world’s largest asset managers, is breaking into bitcoin custody.

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, three people “with knowledge on the matter” from firms in contact with Fidelity have said that the company is tentatively planning to launch a custody service for bitcoin in March.

This move would fall in line with the company’s recent pushes toward the crypto space. Last October, Fidelity announced the creation of a platform for institutional traders to invest in cryptocurrencies, using over-the-counter trading and cold storage to ensure the security of the various assets.

As the first quarter of the 2019 fiscal year is well underway, Fidelity is making moves to turn this proposal into reality. These sources claim that bitcoin will naturally be the first crypto asset offered on the platform, though “ether custody is expected to be next.”

Fidelity did comment directly on the imminent plans for this custody service, although they made no guarantees of the projected launch date. “We are currently serving a select set of eligible clients as we continue to build our initial solutions,” they said. “Over the next several months, we will thoughtfully engage with and prioritize prospective clients based on needs, jurisdiction and other factors.”

Custody is a commonplace service in the world of markets but is significantly less common in the crypto asset investment space at the institutional level. Relying on third-party actors to protect securities from the risk of theft or fraud, most crypto custody takes place within the realm of startups. With the recent announcement that New York state will condone crypto custody, however, many financial banks are looking to get in on the action.

An institutional custody service from a titanic asset manager like Fidelity, which deals with trillions of dollars of properties, could give a boost to bitcoin’s slow progress with Wall Street.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

January 30, 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin – Finally some Green on the Board. But Can It Hold?

Is $3,500 the new line in the sand for Bitcoin? A breakout through to $3,550 levels would certainly ease the pressure…

Bitcoin slipped by 0.66% on Tuesday, following on from Monday’s 2.65% slide, to end the day at $3,477.9.

A start of a day move through to an intraday high $3,517.5 failed to draw in sidelined investors, with Bitcoin coming up short of the first major resistance level at $3,584.77 before hitting reverse.

Tracking the broader market through much of the day, Bitcoin fell through the first major support level at $3,432.17 to a mid-morning intraday low $3,422 before finding support.

Bitcoin managed to break back through to $3,500 levels with an afternoon high $3,504.4 before falling back through to $3,400 levels and the lowest end of day price since 16th December’s $3,301.5.

Elsewhere amongst the top 10 cryptos, it wasn’t all doom and gloom, with EOS and Tron managing to buck the trend through the 2nd half of the day. EOS led the way, gaining 1.63% for the day, with Tron’s TRX not far behind, rising by 1.06%, the pair partially recovering from Monday’s sell-off.

EOS managed to knock Bitcoin Cash off the number 4 spot, by market cap, with Tether taking the number 5 spot to leave Bitcoin Cash down at 6. Litecoin and Tron are battling it out for the number 7 spot and if things don’t get better for Bitcoin Cash, it could be facing the prospects of a number 8 spot sooner rather than later.

The bearish trend through the day came as the majors, with the exception of EOS and Tron, failed to break back through to key levels following the morning sell-off. There was no particularly negative news hitting the crypto wires to drive the reversal.

On the news front, a positive for Bitcoin and the broader market should be news of Fidelity looking to launch custody services for Bitcoin, before the end of the first quarter, with services for the broader market to follow. As one of the key issues identified by the SEC, Fidelity is looking to fill a considerable gap in the cryptomarket.

The timing could have been more favorable, with the SEC currently scheduled to announce the outcome to its review of the 8 remaining Bitcoin ETF applications, but following the government shutdown, it wouldn’t be surprising if there was a further delay to the decision. The VanEck withdrawal could have been the right decision should Fidelity deliver on its promise and the markets avoid another high profile theft or fall victim to more price manipulation.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.56% to $3,497.4. Bitcoin managed to avert another crisis by recovering from a start of a day dip to a morning low $3,451.2 to strike a morning high $3,509.4 before easing back. The day’s major support levels were left untested early on, while resistance at $3,500 played a hand in the early hours.

For the day ahead, a hold above $3,470 levels would support another run at $3,500 levels, though sentiment across the broader market would need to materially improve, investors taking a more cautious stance following 3 consecutive days in the red. We would expect Bitcoin to be pinned back from a breakout to $3,600 levels, by the day’s second major resistance level at $3,567.97, any rebound likely to see Bitcoin break through the first major resistance level at $3,522.93 with relative ease.

Failure to hold above $3,470 levels could see Bitcoin return to the red, with a fall through the morning low $3,451.2 bringing the first major support level at $3,427.43 and a visit to $3,300 levels into play before any recovery.

Bob Mason

(Jan 30, 2019 4:18 AM GMT

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin drops further as 2018’s agony keeps going

Bitcoin’s painful 2018 crash continues, with the original cryptocurrency touching the lowest in more than a month on Monday.

Falling as much as 5.2% since the weekend, the largest digital asset in the space dragged the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index to its worst decline in more than two weeks. Ether and Bitcoin Cash both fell more than 10%.

It’s been a disappointing start to the year for crypto investors, who hoped that the pain of the downturn was behind them. More than $400 billion in market value was wiped out in the past 12 months as widespread adoption failed to materialize, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com. The total market capitalisation is now about $113 billion.

Meanwhile, the economics of the industry has come under pressure, with so-called miners finding the average cost of producing Bitcoin was more than its value. More work is being done to identify money laundering using the asset class.

The technical outlook doesn’t bode well for the bulls. Based on the GTI VERA Convergence Divergence Technical Indicator, the largest cryptocurrency just entered a new selling trend today for the first time since mid-November.

The last time a sell signal was sent Bitcoin tumbled about 50% from $6,280 a coin to $3,156 over a nearly two-week span.

Business Tech Staff Writer 29 January 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Wall Street quietly shelves its bitcoin dreams

Squeamish from the start about pursuing profits in one of the darker corners of finance, established firms this year slowed their already halting efforts to make a business out of Bitcoin mania.

While none has thrown in the towel, and some continue to develop a trading infrastructure, most flinched as the value of virtual coins collapsed.

Take Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which sought to position itself at the cutting edge of digital assets that skeptics see mainly as a domain of day traders and anarchists. Progress has been so slow as to be barely noticeable, according to people familiar with its crypto business. Many in the industry now say it was quixotic to have expected last year’s frenzy to translate into a Wall Street crypto offering.

“The market had unrealistic expectations that Goldman or any of its peers could suddenly start a Bitcoin trading business,” said Daniel H. Gallancy, chief executive officer of New York-based SolidX Partners, which hopes to launch a Bitcoin ETF in the US. “That was top-of-the-market-hype thinking.”

Goldman remains a focal point for expectations of an establishment embrace of crypto. The firm was among the first on Wall Street to clear Bitcoin futures and people familiar with the matter said last year it was preparing a trading desk—the bank even provided its bankers to the New York Times for an interview on its plans. After considering a custody service for crypto funds, the firm invested in custodian BitGo Holdings Inc. It’s also offering derivatives on Bitcoin called non-deliverable forwards.

The bank has yet to offer to trade of crypto and has gained little traction for its NDF product, having signed up just 20 clients, according to people familiar with the matter. Justin Schmidt, who was hired to head its digital-asset business, said at an industry conference last month that regulators are limiting what he can do. Still, Goldman plans to add a digital-assets specialist to its prime brokerage division, the person said.

Courtesy- ET Alastair Marsh

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin – Triangle range about to end

• BTC stuck in a triangle trading range that is about to end.

• May continue earlier downward trend after breaking out of the range.

Bitcoin, the poster boy of cryptocurrencies, has been trading in a narrowing range of a triangle for last one month and now seems to be in the process of breaking out of this triangle which may result in BTC continuing its earlier southward journey.

BTC/USD is lower by two cents of a percent on day at $3,549 in just over one percent range for the day. On the six-hour chart of the largest crypto, BTC has been trading in a narrowing triangular range since last one month and is now closing in on breaking out of it, which would mean continuing the earlier downward journey which paused for a while.

This breakdown would also mean BTC would break lower of the $3k mark and may even inch closer to $2k mark.

BTC/USD 360-minute chart:

Manoj B Rawal

FXStreet

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member