Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson just offered one of her most detailed looks yet at how the firm got into Bitcoin and why she still backs it today.
In a recent conversation at the Founders Summit with a16z crypto COO Anthony Albanese, she walked through how Fidelity ended up years ahead of the rest of traditional finance.
Johnson says Fidelity’s crypto story began with “a learning curiosity thing,” not a corporate strategy.
Around 2013, a small internal group met regularly to figure out what Bitcoin even was and whether it might eventually reshape parts of the business. They generated 52 possible use cases. Almost all failed. The only one that stuck was accepting Bitcoin for charitable donations.
That small win gave Fidelity credibility inside the crypto community and opened the door for deeper involvement.
One of the most surprising pieces Johnson shared was how early Fidelity started mining. She pushed through a $200,000 Antminer purchase that many inside the company tried to shut down.
It ended up becoming “probably the highest single highest IRR business that we’ve had.”
This put Fidelity directly into Bitcoin’s technical stack, giving the firm hands-on experience with wallets, security, and infrastructure long before the rest of Wall Street showed interest.
On her personal position, Johnson was clear: “I don’t own tons of coins, but I own Bitcoin.” She called BTC “the gold standard… in the crypto world,” and said it will continue to play a role in people’s savings plans.
That early exploration eventually led Fidelity to formal crypto custody, driven by advisors who needed secure ways to help clients hold and pass down Bitcoin.
Today, crypto touches multiple parts of the company, from asset management to R&D. Johnson believes the direction is set: there is “zero chance that it’s not happening because it is happening.”
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