Fidelity Digital Assets Adds Silvergate As Crypto Lender

Fidelity Digital Assets will soon be collaborating with Silvergate Bank as its second lender extending cryptocurrency-backed loans, Silvergate announced in a press release on Monday (March 29).

Silvergate has been offering loans backed by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies since June 2020 through its Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN). This has enabled users to move money in near-real time between different crypto exchanges. SEN is the real-time payments platform of Silvergate Capital Corporation, which provides infrastructure for the digital currency space. 

“Silvergate is well-positioned to offer SEN Leverage due to our lending authority and strong credit culture,” said Jon Melton, director of digital asset lending at Silvergate. “With Fidelity Digital Assets on board, we’re combining our exceptional lending program with a leading custody services platform, providing investors with greater access to capital.”

The initiative gives investors who custody their bitcoin with Fidelity the ability to get easy access to SEN Leverage or maintain their long bitcoin positions, according to the press release.

“Like Silvergate, we recognize the opportunity to create a more seamless investor experience by helping institutions maximize capital efficiency, as well as the opportunity to strengthen the digital assets ecosystem through greater integration and collaborations like this,” said Christine Sandler, head of sales and marketing at Fidelity Digital Assets. “The ability to access SEN Leverage while maintaining the stability of assets on our custody platform will help us deliver even more value and more choice to our clients to meet their evolving needs.”

Fidelity Investments filed paperwork in August 2020 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to introduce a bitcoin-focused fund, the Wise Origin Bitcoin Index Fund. Peter Jubber, Fidelity’s president and director of digital funds, is expected to head the initiative. According to a recent Fidelity Digital Assets survey, 36 percent of 800 investors already had money in digital assets.