Investing.com – Bitcoin fell Wednesday despite a report that Fidelity, one the biggest Wall Street firms, was eyeing a move into the crypto space and plans to create products that would push the market for bitcoin to the "next level."
Bitcoin fell 1.43% to $7,522.0 on the Bitfinex exchange.
Wealth manager Fidelity is planning to create a suite of products that would push the market for bitcoin to the next level, Business Insider reported.
Fidelity's push in to crypto space has been a long time coming as the wealth manager already permits certain clients to view their crypto holdings alongside their other accounts in their Fidelity portfolio.
Business insider said, citing a job ad, that Fidelity was also working on custody solutions for cryptos, providing services to protect large amounts of wealth for other institutions.
While some argue that the participation of large Wall Street institutions is needed to legitimise the crypto space, raising demand for cryptos, recent data has proved the contrary.
The launch of bitcoin futures exchanges last year, paved the way for institutional investors to get in on the crypto action, but they opted to take bearish bets on bitcoin, pressuring it to fall from its peak $20,000.
“Similarly, the advent of blockchain introduced a new financial instrument, Bitcoin, which optimistic investors bid up, until the launch of Bitcoin futures allowed pessimists to enter the market, which contributed to the reversal of the Bitcoin price dynamics,” wrote the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco last month.
Demand for cryptos remained subdued as the total market cap of cryptocurrencies fell to about $339 billion, at the time of writing, from $344 billion Tuesday.
Ripple XRP fell 2.16% to $0.65906 on the Poloniex exchange, while Ethereum fell 1.89% to $597.36.
Bitcoin Cash fell 3.37% to $1,111.40, while Litecoin fell 1.12% to $119.58.