EXECUTIVE BIO

He holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland; is a CFA and CAIA charterholder; and is currently working towards a Master of Science in Blockchain and Digital Currency at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus.

by preparing for tokenised securities and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) too.

One way it did this was by examining the tokenisation of some of the fund share classes it offered, and identifying where there was demand in the market, Froehlich says: “If you think of digital-native investors, which are naturally more adept to digital assets, they are also looking at ways of integrating traditional assets into their portfolio or wallet. Tokenising this asset necessitates a change, an upgrade in our infrastructure, which is another area that I'm focusing on. So it's both this convergence from client demand and need for an upgraded infrastructure that led to the decision to dedicate resources to this topic.”

The fact that Fidelity’s customers were asking them to invest in this space was one of the primary motivating factors. Froehlich believes that it would not be possible to test out this emerging area without the backing of key stakeholders within Fidelity, as well as a desire to meet customer demand.

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“I think we have a philosophy of pushing the boundaries and using new technologies,” he tells us. “There is a very entrepreneurial spirit that runs within Fidelity. Most employees have an opportunity to test certain assumptions and hypotheses, to potentially launch new solutions, new services or new lines of business.”

“It doesn't have to come from the top; there are a lot of people within the company that are given the flexibility of testing a new concept. That's also one of the reasons that we managed to launch a standalone business dedicated to digital assets.”

Fidelity’s first digital assets product launch was not just a case of a new asset class, it was a case of a new technology that clients had to become accustomed to. Questions around custody pervaded at that time, as they do today, and there was uncertainty about the regulatory wrapper that would surround a launch of this nature.

This was in spite of the loud noise that reverberated around the crypto space. These were crucial concerns, such was the breakneck acceleration of digital assets.

“Because there was so much uncertainty about the technology and a few of the environmental impacts, as well as the