Following recent reports on Fidelity’s foray into cryptocurrency space, Business Insider has now reported that the financial services giant launched an internal cryptocurrency fund in fall of 2017 and is seeking a new fund manager.
Sources familiar with the matter told BI that the firm is looking for a new fund manager after the departure of two senior employees involved in the project.
Launched last year, the fund is small and exploratory and currently inactive. Sources said that the fund used capital from Fidelity’s balance sheet to invest in crypto-related assets. It actively made investments in digital currencies and cryptocurrency-based companies until the two key team members left the company.
According to the report, the two team members – Matt Walsh, a former vice president at Fidelity, and Nic Carter, a former investment research analyst at the company – recently quit the firm to start a crypto-focused VC firm, Castle Island Ventures.
A number of executives have left the company in the past couple of months to join blockchain and crypto-related companies, the report reveals.
Ben Pousty, a former digital asset marketing lead for Fidelity Labs, joined crypto startup Circle; Kinjal Shah, a former senior consulting analyst, joined crypto VC firm Blockchain Capital; Thomas Pacchia, a former director at Fidelity's crypto incubator, left the firm last year to start HODL Capital, a New York-based crypto fund.
