Fidelity's Man: Can Tom Jessop Bring Crypto to Wall Street for Good?

"He has this unique combination of skill sets bridging all these areas and real experience in bringing emerging technologies to market," said Jill Carlson, a blockchain consultant and fellow Wall Street veteran who worked with Jessop at the startup Chain in 2017.

Jessop is a far cry from the stereotype of Wall Street executives as "Human piranhas" or "Masters of the universe."

As Chain moved in a new direction, Jessop started talking to Fidelity, and he joined the company in January 2018 as head of corporate business development.

Not long after Jessop arrived at Fidelity in January 2018, he was asked to lead the new business, which would fill a gap the team had identified.

"Digital assets is an emerging asset class, [with] a lot of volatility," Jessop said.

"People see us as an asset manager and a personal wealth manager. But we have an institutional business," Jessop said.

"According to Jessop, FDAS will marry crypto security methods with processes and procedures that enterprise clients expect, things Fidelity does as a matter of course in its traditional custody business."You think about another custodian keeping your own personal coins at Xapo or Coinbase, there's a single login.

Jessop was clear that Fidelity's own balance sheet won't be an additional backstop for losses, since FDAS is separately capitalized from the parent company, "a standalone business unit." This is also one reason FDAS is pursuing state licenses rather than piggybacking on Fidelity's federal broker-dealer license, Jessop said.

Even Caitlin Long, a former Morgan Stanley executive turned bitcoin and blockchain advocate who has expressed worries that Wall Street will ruin crypto by "Financializing" it through practices like rehypothecation, said this is less of a concern with Fidelity.

As for the revenue model, Jessop said FDAS will charge a commission on trades and a fee based on assets under custody.