Fidelity becomes latest firm to re-up bid for spot bitcoin ETF

The financial services giant renewed its effort after BlackRock revealed its intention to bring a similar offering on June 15

article-image

PL Gould/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Fidelity has re-entered the field of spot bitcoin ETF hopefuls. 

The financial services giant, which has about $11 trillion in assets under administration, filed on Thursday. The ETF was filed under the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust name.

According to the filing, Fidelity Digital Assets Services will “be responsible for custody of the Trust’s bitcoin.”

Fidelity’s filing comes after BlackRock — an asset manager with roughly $9 trillion assets under management — revealed plans to launch a spot bitcoin ETF earlier this month. 

Read more: Is BlackRock’s clout enough to get its bitcoin ETF past the SEC?

That move by BlackRock spurred other fund firms that had previously tried to launch such a fund — including Bitwise, WisdomTree, Invesco, Valkyrie and VanEck — to re-up their own efforts. 

Ark Invest and 21Shares, which had re-filed for their spot bitcoin ETF in April, amended its proposal on Wednesday to include a surveillance-sharing agreement with an unnamed bitcoin spot trading platform.

Fidelity’s latest move does not come as a surprise, as many had predicted the firm would rejoin the spot bitcoin ETF launch effort after BlackRock got the industry’s attention.  

Loading Tweet..

But unlike BlackRock, Fidelity has tried to launch a spot bitcoin ETF before. 

The firm filed in 2021 for the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, a proposed ETF ultimately blocked by the SEC in January 2022. That denial came nearly two months after Fidelity successfully launched a spot bitcoin ETF in Canada.  

More broadly, Fidelity has been involved in the crypto space for years. 

It launched Fidelity Digital Assets in 2018 to offer crypto custody and trade execution services to institutional investors, such as hedge funds, family offices and market intermediaries.

The company launched its Crypto Industry and Digital Payments ETF (FDIG) and the Fidelity Metaverse ETF (FMET) in April 2022.

Updated June 29, 2023 at 1:54 pm ET: Added additional content throughout.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (2).png

Research

We’re bullish on the PUMP token. We believe Pump.fun's brand strength, existing integrations, product roadmap, and strategic levers justify PUMP's TGE valuation, and expect the token to re-rate meaningfully higher in the months ahead.

article-image

Coinbase’s newest acquisition includes the CEO and Head of Research from Opyn

article-image

Crypto’s highest purpose might be to make markets better by making them bigger

article-image

The non-profit’s “Project Open” seeks to let stocks trade directly on Solana

article-image

The acquisition is Pump.fun’s first, and comes just days before its planned ICO

article-image

As Trump’s tariff war reignites, everyone is assuming the dollar will continue its path lower. But the journey might be bumpy

article-image

A valuation model for “blockchain GDP”