CEO Abigail Johnson has beena proponent of digital assets — under her leadership, the firmbegan mining bitcoin in 2015.  (Photo: Bloomberg)

Fidelity Investments is targeting a March launch date for itsbitcoin custody service, according to threepeople with knowledge of the matter, as the mutual-fund giant movesforward with a plan that could help ease fears of tradingcryptocurrencies.

In October, the Boston-based firm announced it would offer arange of crypto products designed for large investors like hedgefunds.

Bitcoin storage will be the first one available, according toemployees of three firms that spoke with Fidelity in the pastseveral weeks and asked not to be named discussing plans that arestill private. Ether custody is expected to be next, they said.

“We are currently serving a select set of eligible clients as wecontinue to build our initial solutions,” the company said in astatement Tuesday. “Over the next several months, we willthoughtfully engage with and prioritize prospective clients basedon needs, jurisdiction and other factors.”

Custody, a commonplace practice in conventional financialmarkets like stocks, involves a third party holding onto securitiesto reduce the risk they'll be lost or stolen.

But while a number of startups have sought to offer thesafekeeping service, many Wall Street professionals have longed towork with a large financial services firm, a role Fidelity mayfill.

Others including Bank of New York Mellon Corp., JPMorgan Chase& Co. and Northern Trust Corp. have explored entering thefield. Meanwhile, digital coins are constantly stolen, underscoringthe need for better safeguards.

Fidelity Chief Executive Officer Abigail Johnson has been aproponent of digital assets, setting her apart from many rivals.Under her leadership, the firm began mining bitcoin in 2015.

She's betting the business, dubbed Fidelity Digital Assets, willappeal to Wall Street's relatively nascent appetite for trading andsafeguarding digital currencies.

Fidelity, among the largest providers of retirement savings andmutual funds, is hoping it can leverage its famous name and winover institutional customers keen on digital currency trading.

The company already works with more than 13,000 financialinstitutions. It has also hired from the crypto world, notably TomJessop as head of corporate business development a year ago. He waspreviously president of Chain Inc., which offers blockchain technology to financialcompanies.

Risks to custody include managing cryptographic keys forcustomers, staving off hackers and staying within complianceboundaries, BNY Mellon said in an October report.

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