coindesk.com
Money management giant Fidelity is seeking to create an exchange-traded fund that holds Ethereum's ether (ETH), according to a Friday filing, joining its rival BlackRock in strengthening its embrace of crypto.
The Fidelity Ethereum Fund would be listed by an exchange owned by Cboe Global Markets, which posted the fling that revealed the existence of the proposed product. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would have to approve the ETF first, though, just as it must for BlackRock's proposed similar ETH product, which was revealed earlier this month.
Both Fidelity and BlackRock also want to create ETFs that give investors easier access to an even bigger cryptocurrency: bitcoin (BTC). The SEC has yet to weigh in on those either.
ETFs that hold BTC or ETH, the biggest cryptocurrencies, could – according to optimists – dramatically shake up the crypto market. They are generally easier to buy than crypto; a normal, conventional brokerage account gives an investor access to all manner of ETFs, which trade just like stocks and track assets ranging from the whole stock market to gold, corn and sugar.
That could, in theory, bring in a flood of new investment money into digital assets – particularly with the marketing heft of famous firms like Fidelity and BlackRock.