Fidelity Testing Its Own Stablecoin as Firm Expands Crypto Efforts

Fidelity Digital Assets is actively testing a stablecoin it has developed, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Decrypt.

The crypto-focused arm of Fidelity Investments, a $5 trillion asset manager, does not yet have plans to bring the token to market, the source said.

The Financial Times first reported on the Boston-based firm’s stablecoin experiment.

The firm’s testing of its own stablecoin comes as it also explores the tokenized U.S. Treasury market. A few days ago, Fidelity filed to roll out a tokenized version of its U.S. dollar money market fund.  

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to another asset. Many of the tokens are backed one-to-one by U.S. dollar reserves.

Fidelity’s stablecoin experiment comes as several firms jockey to roll out dollar-backed tokens ahead of lawmakers’ efforts to implement clearer rules for stablecoin issuers in the U.S. 

The Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial decentralized finance project revealed Tuesday that it will launch a dollar-pegged stablecoin called USD1, while crypto custodian BitGo launched its USDS stablecoin in January. 

Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee greenlit the Genius Act, a bipartisan bill that introduces new regulations for stablecoins. The bill is poised to clinch broader Senate approval. 

President Trump also called for “simple, common-sense rules” for stablecoins at a crypto conference in New York last week. He added that the tokens would promote “the dominance of the U.S. dollar.” 

Introduced in 2014, stablecoins have become increasingly popular among crypto holders. 

The stablecoin market is worth nearly $250 billion, CoinGecko data shows. Tether’s offshore USDT dominates the market, followed by USD-backed tokens such as Circle’s USDC, BitGo’s USDS and Ethena USDe. 

Edited by James Rubin