Tom Jessop, head of Fidelity Digital Assets at Fidelity Investments, says that the maturation and adoption of digital assets as a class of investments will continue at a rapid pace in coming years, signaling that crypto may have turned a corner in traditional finance circles. <\/p>\n
I think we continue to see adoption at an accelerated pace for a host of reasons, he said Wednesday afternoon during an interview at MarketWatch and BarronsInvesting in Crypto virtual event series. <\/p>\n
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Jessop said that a backdrop of ultralow interest rates and an environment that has been stimulated by easy-money policies has helped to drive momentum into bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.62% and other assets, which are increasingly being seen as alternatives to assets that are considered richly priced by some measure and bonds that are offering meager yields. <\/p>\n
The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.42% booked its 18th record closing high of 2021 on Wednesday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.17% wasnt far from its all-time high as the 10-year Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.645% yielded around 1.66%. <\/p>\n
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Were not going to get out of this stimulated environment anytime soon, Jessop said. I think weve reached a tipping point.<\/p>\n
I think youve had the accumulated experience of now roughly 12 years of the bitcoin blockchain being operative since the genesis block in early 2009. And the pandemic, quite frankly, was a catalyst for institutional adoption, and specifically bitcoin and the narrative, or use-case, around digital gold, Jessop said.<\/p>\n
Particularly, in an environment where weve seen unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus from central banks and governments in response to the pandemic, he said. <\/p>\n
Fidelity has been at the vanguard of integrating digital assets into traditional investment portfolios. The asset manager was one of the first major institutions to explore bitcoin, starting in 2015.<\/p>\n
The company created the digital asset unit, which Jessop heads, in 2019. <\/p>\n
Bitcoin was trading at $56,500 on Wednesday, up 95% so far this year. <\/p>\n
Want to understand the future of cryptos and NFTs? Register for MarketWatchs free live event:https:\/\/events.marketwatch.com\/crypto\/home<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n