By Alicia Maher
Leading asset management firm, Fidelity, wants to increase its ETF options to serve the top two crypto sub-niches right now. On Wednesday, Fidelity investments launched two new ETF offerings – the FMET and FDIG to tap into the burgeoning metaverse/Web3 space.
Per Bloomberg, the FMET would monitor and invest in companies that are developing the internet for the future. Otherwise known as Web3.
The second newly-launched Fidelity ETF (the FDIG) will invest in crypto-related firms whose services include processing payments, blockchain technologies and other crypto services. According to the firm’s head of ETF management and strategy, Fidelity is launching these new products in response to the growing demand from its younger client base.
“Our young investors have continually requested this option, especially as these sectors’ growth continue to rise sporadically. Hence, these new offerings are mainly for them and we’ve made it more enticing for them by giving them indirect exposure to this space.”
Is the ETF market overflowing with offerings already?
The Bloomberg report assumes that Fidelity is making a late entrance into the ETF space. The report states that there are already 15 ETF-related offerings available in the market. However, more firms may still launch their ETF-related offerings despite Bloomberg’s assumption of an overcrowded ETF space. For example, another investment fund firm, blackrock, has announced that it would soon launch its own young-investor-themed ETF.
Also, one of Wallachbeth capital’s top-level executives, jessy ross told Bloomberg that “investors want exposure to the metaverse sector badly. They have improved their understanding about it such that they have realised its massive potential for the present and the future.”
One of Bloomberg’s top analysts, eric Balchunas, opined that Fidelity’s uunique advantage in the ETF space might be its extremely low fee, which is the lowest in comparison to other metaverse-related ETFs.
Fidelity has Vanguard-ed the Metaverse theme category undercutting competition with the 39bp $FMET. What a world. pic.twitter.com/avln05oHOJ
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 21, 2022
Balchunas added that the first trust metaverse ETF will likely hit $1b in the next 12 months even though it was recently launched for 75 basis points. Fidelity has been on a launch spree this week. Besides the fmet and FDIG, Fidelity also started a metaverse-related decentraland known as the Fidelity stack. The primary aim of this project was to teach crypto traders on the foundational principles of investing.
The SEC Remains Mute
Despite other nations approving the launch of spot crypto ETFs, the sec remains mute over the approval of one for americans. Hence, many industry experts claim that the country would lag behind in benefitting from spot crypto ETFs. Rather than waiting for the US SEC, Fidelity opted to launch its btc ETF in canada.
Also, australia’s financial regulators approved two btc spot ETFs earlier in the week. Many asset management firms are increasingly choosing to neglect submitting their applications to the us sec. They are sending them to other nations, particularly Canada, where they hope they can get approval faster. Hence, it is no surprise that cosmos will launch its crypto access ETF with canada’s purpose crypto ETF. Also, 21shares and ETF securities are likely to do the same.
In a bid to trivialize the SEC’s current stance about a crypto spot ETF, ETF Store CEO, Nate Geraci, tweeted a map of the countries without a spot crypto ETF, with the US occupying a prominent space on the map.
Countries now without a spot bitcoin ETF… https://t.co/fklah0hhJf pic.twitter.com/OaYSJlwPR8
— Nate Geraci (@NateGeraci) April 20, 2022