Fidelity Digital Assets Adds Collateral Agent Capabilities to BlockFi Loans

BlockFi and Fidelity Digital Assets announced today a new offering that enables clients on Fidelity’s institutional-grade digital assets custody platform to pledge bitcoin as collateral in a transaction. BlockFi is excited to support Fidelity’s entrance into the digital asset financing space, strengthening and broadening Fidelity Digital Assets’ existing custody offering, which remains integrated with a trade execution venue.

BlockFi can now offer USD loans to institutional clients holding Bitcoin as collateral in custody accounts at Fidelity Digital Assets.

“We're thrilled to be collaborating with Fidelity Digital Assets to help facilitate capital efficiency within their robust digital asset management platform,” said Zac Prince, CEO and Founder of BlockFi. “Having an ability to finance positions is a critical component of financial services infrastructure and this collaboration reflects an exciting development for the digital asset ecosystem.” 

“We continue to see demand for increased capital efficiency from institutions that maintain long bitcoin positions, and with this collateral agent capability, our customers seeking that efficiency can access more opportunity with the capital that they trust us to keep safe,” said Christine Sandler, Head of Sales and Marketing for Fidelity Digital Assets. “For Fidelity Digital Assets, this is an exciting first step into supporting the thriving lending market for digital assets and deepens our relationships within the digital assets ecosystem with leading firms like BlockFi, which allows us to provide even more institutional-grade solutions to investors in this space.”

Marrying risk-managed loan agreements with best-in-class custody furthers the opportunities for institutions to enter and grow within the digital asset market. According to research from Fidelity, there has been increased institutional appeal in and adoption of digital assets, with 36% of institutions surveyed invested in the asset class and more than 6 out of 10 investors saying digital assets have a place in portfolios.

“The business and market momentum we’ve seen this year have reinforced our belief that institutional investors are looking for a more comprehensive offering in the digital assets space, and we look forward to continuing to evolve our platform to meet their needs and deliver even greater value to our clients,” said Sandler.

Founded in 2017 by Zac Prince and Flori Marquez, BlockFi was created with the goal of providing credit services to markets with limited access to financial products. Bridging the gap between the worlds of traditional finance and blockchain technology, BlockFi Institutional Services provides lending and borrowing of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and US dollars, powered by our retail cryptocurrency balance. We can customize our lending products for each client’s specific business strategy, and are constantly evolving our services to address any future needs that might arise. BlockFi is backed by leading institutional investors and operates with a focus on compliance with U.S. laws and regulations. Digital currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and crypto interest accounts are not subject to FDIC or SIPC protections. This press release is not a commitment to make a loan and loans may be subject to credit approval. Loan products and services are subject to change. Learn more at BlockFi.com. BlockFi Lending LLC NMLS ID#1737520 | BlockFi Trading LLC NMLS ID#1873137

Fidelity Digital Assets offers a full-service enterprise-grade platform for securing, trading, and supporting digital assets. A business of Fidelity Investments, one of the world’s largest and most diversified financial services providers with more than $8.7 trillion in client assets under administration, Fidelity Digital Assets combines the operational and technical capabilities of the broader Fidelity organization with dedicated blockchain expertise to deliver a completely new offering for institutional investors. Learn more at http://fidelitydigitalassets.com.  Fidelity Digital Asset Services, LLC NMLS ID#1773897