Hedge fund giant Fidelity has finally launched its digital asset branch— Fidelity Digital Asset Services— which was first announced in October 2018.
The massive fund has been working on its technical and operational capabilities needed for securing, trading and supporting digital assets with the exacting oversight required by institutional investors.
A recent tweet from Fidelity shows that they are onboarding clients as of last week.
We are live with a select group of eligible clients and will continue rolling out slowly. Our solutions are focused on the needs of hedge funds, family offices, pensions, endowments, other institutional investors. More on our project: https://t.co/EkJ2pWJt2Y DCBlockchain
— Fidelity Digital Assets (@DigitalAssets) March 7, 2019
2019 looks to be the year of mainstream crypto adoption, looking at the many moves this year in the enterprise blockchain sector, particularly in supply-chain and loyalty programmes. In terms of fund-raising, real estate is very hot in the STO arena.
Walmart is forcing its entire supplier network on the blockchain by end of 2019 for its supply chain logistics. And they are in a consortium with Dole, Nestle, Kroger, Tyson, Unilever, Golden State Foods, McCormick & Co., Carrefour et al.
Loyalty Go-Ahead Group Plc, Go-Ahead, a FTSE 250-listed rail company that runs over a billion passenger journeys per year on their bus and rail services and a major public transport provider in the United Kingdom, is partnering with blockchain startup DOVU to launch a tokenized, blockchain-based rewards system for its customers.
Singapore Airlines launched KrisPay, which allows members to transfer their KrisFlyer points to partner merchants using a digital wallet that can be accessed in real-time.
American Express is also capitalizing on the transferability of blockchain to enable merchants to tie American Express reward points into their own products. Under that umbrella, online wholesaler Boxed is the first merchant to test the blockchain-based rewards.
Chanticleer Holdings, which owns burger restaurants like American Burger Co., BGR and a handful of Hooters restaurants, wants to empower customers to redeem Merit, its reward cryptocurrency, at any of their brands or trade them with friends.
Tokyo-based e-commerce giant Rakuten issued its own rewards coin convertible to cash. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is trying to figure out how to make tokens work for gas-station rewards. etc.
Bear market to bull market in 2019? It’s looking good.
