Fidelity Investments asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to continue developing the regulatory framework for broker-dealers to offer, hold, and trade crypto assets through alternative trading systems or ATS.
Fidelity backs SEC’s push for crypto regulations
Financial services corporation, Fidelity recently submitted a letter to the SEC Crypto Task Force, expressing its broader support for the agency’s efforts to update existing frameworks for emerging technologies. Submitted Friday, the letter emphasized the company’s stance on the necessity of upholding core principles like investor protection, transparency, and market integrity.
It responded to the request raised by Commissioner Hester Peirce in December 2025, with a particular focus on trading and settlement issues, for details to understand how national securities exchanges and ATS platforms view and handle crypto asset trading.
Fidelity presses SEC for clarity
Fidelity outlined a few recommendations, as the firm believes that progress has been made, but the rulebook to support it still isn’t complete. The firm pointed to the SEC’s recent clarification on broker-dealers being allowed custody for both crypto asset securities and non-security digital assets.
“[We] look forward to additional guidance on a number of other areas critical for broker-dealers to offer, custody, and trade crypto assets and facilitate crypto-security trading pairs,” said Fidelity.
Recently, the SEC has been giving out more clarity on how broker-dealers can maintain custody of digital assets and tokenized securities. However, the gradual shift seems more inclined toward blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
Previously, the SEC was criticized for relying too much on lawsuits and crackdowns to regulate crypto. Now, the shift suggests more dialogue and guidance with regulators, underscoring a more open stance than before.
What does the letter speak for?
The central focus of Fidelity’s letter is the need for more transparent rules governing tokenized securities on ATS platforms. They stated that the SEC should provide bright-line standards, which could permit ATS platforms to facilitate secondary market trading in tokenized securities created by third parties.
Fidelity said, “This clarity is critical because the regulatory status of a tokenized instrument depends on its economic realities, key facts that may not be fully knowable to a broker-dealer.” The firm argued that the broker-dealers must be able to understand the classification of tokenized assets.
