Fidelity Introduces Crypto IRA for US Investors with No Fees, Featuring Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin

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• Fidelity has launched crypto retirement accounts, allowing investors to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin with a 1% transaction fee.
• The firm is developing a US dollar-pegged stablecoin and expanding its Ethereum ETF with staking capabilities.

Fidelity has introduced retirement accounts dedicated to investing in cryptocurrencies. The new accounts allow US investors to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin in three different types of accounts: traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and rollover accounts.

The accounts are available with no opening or maintenance charges, but users will pay a 1% fee for each cryptocurrency trade.

This action represents a turning point for Fidelity Digital Assets, a division hitherto serving institutional investors. Extending its services into individual retirement accounts, Fidelity is signaling a larger trend of traditional finance moving into the digital asset space.

The company also emphasized security, with the majority of its crypto assets stored offline in cold storage, ensuring they are secure against cyber attacks.

With crypto still exposed to vulnerabilities through hacking, Fidelity’s move to incorporate cold storage in its investments has been meant to protect assets.

The firm’s push into crypto retirement products is seen as an effort to attract long-term investors who are increasingly interested in digital assets as part of their financial planning.

Fidelity’s Stablecoin Project Moves Forward

Along with its retirement products, Fidelity continues to advance in the stablecoin space as well. The company is said to be far along with working on a US dollar-linked stablecoin under its umbrella of Fidelity Digital Assets.

With this product, Fidelity plans to challenge major stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Tether, who currently hold sway in the marketplace.

According to reports, Fidelity’s stablecoin will act as a cash equivalent in the cryptocurrency space, enabling smooth transactions and liquidity. The launch follows the company’s overall interest in tokenization, a largely growing business area with a focus on utilizing blockchain-based technologies to tokenize financial assets.

The Financial Times recently reported on March 26 that Fidelity’s stablecoin project was in its last phase of testing. Although the company has not publicly stated when it will launch, industry experts are hopeful that the stablecoin will emerge soon.

Ethereum ETF Expansion and Staking Plans

Fidelity is also broadening its crypto investment services by expanding its U.S. dollar fund, backed by its Ethereum-based share class. The latter will track trades in the $80 million Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund, which holds mostly U.S. Treasury bills, as we reported previously.

This move adds to the company’s expanding roster of crypto ETFs, designed to give investors broad exposure to cryptocurrencies.

Earlier in March, the CBOE submitted to the U.S. SEC to add staking into its Ethereum-based ETF, the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH).

If approved, this action will enable the ETF to stake Ether (ETH), thereby participating in Ethereum’s proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. As the fund earns staking rewards, investors will witness higher returns beyond price action alone.

They first applied for a place in the Ethereum ETF in November 2023, and in May 2024, the SEC approved them, as well as others from competing asset managers.

Since its inception in July 2024, the Fidelity Ethereum ETF has received $1.45 billion in total net flow, reflecting robust investor demand.

However, the ETF was initially restricted by SEC regulations on staking inside an ETF, limiting its potential to create more yield. If approved, the new proposal may prove to be a turning point, enabling the fund to take advantage of Ethereum’s staking system to maximize investors’ gains.