Bitcoin Investors Just Received A Big Breakthrough

On Wednesday, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum took a major step in becoming mainstream investment options. Fidelity Investments announced that its clients will now be able to integrate their cryptocurrency investments held on Coinbase’s digital wallet platform into their Fidelity accounts.

Fidelity is the first major financial services company to embrace cryptocurrency investment. Starting today, Fidelity clients will be able to authorize Coinbase to share data on client cryptocurrency holdings with Fidelity.

Fidelity also intends to use the opportunity to learn more about cryptocurrencies and how they trade.

“This is an experiment in the spirit of learning what these crypto assets are like and how our customers may want to interact with them," said Hadley Stern, senior vice president and managing director at Fidelity Labs.

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Cryptocurrencies have slowly but surely been making the transition to a mainstream investment option. That process has involved integrating cryptocurrencies into the traditional world of finance. For example, earlier this year, American Express Company AXP announced a partnership with peer-to-peer payments app Abra that allows American Express cardholders to purchase bitcoin using their cards.

For now, Fidelity clients will only be able to view their cryptocurrency holdings, but the partnership with Coinbase may open the door to direct cryptocurrency trading on the Fidelity platform at some point down the line.

For now, cryptocurrency investors will be watching to see if other financial services companies follow Fidelity's lead and announce new cryptocurrency features on their platforms as well.

The value of a bitcoin has surged from just under $1,000 at the beginning of the year to above $3,300 as of Wednesday morning.