Fidelity’s Chief Strategist Starts Bitcoin Index Fund

Fidelity Investments’ chief strategist is heading a new bitcoin index fund that appears to be Wall Street’s latest play for high-dollar institutional crypto bets.

• “Wise Origin Bitcoin Index Fund I, LP” has a $100,000 minimum buy-in and a high-ranking executive officer to boot: Peter Jubber, head of strategy and planning for the increasingly crypto-friendly investments giant Fidelity.
• Disclosed in a Wednesday morning filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the fund is the latest example of Wall Street veterans warming up to bitcoin. Fidelity, one of the largest mutual fund firms in the U.S., is also leading the Street in bitcoin research and services.
• Wise Origin links back to Fidelity Investments via Jubber and Fidelity’s brokerage service and distribution subsidiaries, both of which are set to receive sales compensation from the new fund. It also shares a Boston office building with Fidelity.
• Fidelity declined to comment on its ties to the fund. A Delaware corporation called FD Funds GP is Wise Origin’s general partner, and Jubber is FD Funds’ president.
• While it is not known how the fund will approach bitcoin investing, Jubber waxed bullish on blockchain in a 2017 podcast sponsored by Fidelity. At the time he said his firm had sketched out 10 years of potentialities for the institution-disrupting tech.
• “Every incumbent should be spending time and money on this topic to understand it, at least to understand the threat,” he said in the podcast. “But I think there’s just a massive opportunity.”
• The fund has yet to raise any capital from investors.

Read more: Fidelity’s Man: Can Tom Jessop Bridge Crypto and Wall Street for Good?

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