Boston-based Fidelity Investments is launching its own stablecoin, joining a slew of companies across startups and financial institutions with similar intentions.
The Fidelity Digital Dollar, or FIDD, will be issued by Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association, a national trust bank that received conditional approval to operate from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in December.
“We believe stablecoins have the potential to serve as foundational payment and settlement instruments,” Mike O’Reilly, president of Fidelity Digital Assets, told Bloomberg in an interview. “Real-time settlement, 24/7, low-cost treasury management, are all meaningful benefits that stablecoins can bring to both our retail and our institutional clients.”
Stablecoins are digital assets designed to maintain a consistent price, often pegged one-to-one to the US dollar and backed with reserves held in short-term treasuries and cash. They have grown in popularity since the passage of the first federal regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers, dubbed the Genius Act, in July.
The reserves backing FIDD will be managed by Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC. The tokens will be available to retail and institutional investors in the coming weeks, according to a statement from the firm.
FIDD will be available on the Fidelity Digital Assets, Fidelity Crypto, and Fidelity Crypto for Wealth Managers platforms. The coins will also be available on crypto exchanges and transferable to any Ethereum mainnet address.
