Loyalty CEO Abigail Johnson believes the cryptocurrency industry is really getting its start this time
In an interview with Barron’s financial magazine, Abigail Johnson, CEO of Fidelity, a $ 3.3 trillion mutual fund giant, claimed that her company’s custody business around Bitcoin had been “hugely successful”:
So, right now, our custody business around Bitcoin has been hugely successful. We have a tremendous pipeline, and it has been very exciting to watch.
He went on to say that because of the quintessential Bitcoin ethos of “be your own bank” they never expected custody to be their priority:
And, if you had asked me in the beginning whether we or anyone was going to prioritize Bitcoin custody, I would have said ‘No way. That is, that is different from what it means. ‘
The lack of world-class third-party custodians has been a major pain point for Bitcoin as there is an urgent need for hedge funds and other institutional participants to protect their holdings.
Loyalty fully introduced its own solution in late 2019. In her October interview with the Financial Times, Johnson took a fierce swipe at Coinbase Custody, claiming that most people had “never heard of it . ”
As reported by U.Today, Fidelity Digital Assets began offering loans collateralized by Bitcoin this week in partnership with crypto lender BlockFi.
Crypto really begins to rise
The billionaire claims that Fidelity’s main commercial goal is to bridge the world of legacy finance with “the future of digital currency.”
That said, it is hard to keep up with everything that is happening in the crypto industry:
I personally find it extremely interesting, but it has also become an area that just … If you’re like me and have a day job, it’s very difficult to keep up with him. So, I feel I’m not nearly as knowledgeable about everything that’s going on in the industry, which is really exciting.
According to Johnson, the industry is a “real start” to rise. He particularly mentioned the Lightning Network, Bitcoin’s native Tier 2 rating solution:
You know, things like the Lightning Network that we’re going to help facilitate is really starting to become a reality.