Fidelity crypto IRA: what the product page states, dated

One page, read on one day

This is a reading of one page: Fidelity’s own product page for its crypto IRA, fetched on the date the source line below carries [1]. Nothing here comes from a press release, a review site, or a forum. Where the page states a term, the term is quoted with that date beside it. Where it does not, this note says so and leaves the gap open.

The reason for that rule is the one the crypto IRA guide gives for custodian fees. The only source for what a provider charges or holds is its own page, dated. Everything else is somebody’s memory of a page.

I read the page the way I read any receipt. What does it claim, and what does it decline to say?

Who offers what

The page draws a line through the product on its first screen. Fidelity Crypto is offered by Fidelity Digital Assets, and the IRA is offered by Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC [1]. The disclosures at the bottom say the same thing in longer words. The crypto accounts, custody, and trading come from Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association, which the page calls a national trust bank [1].

The brokerage side is separate. Brokerage services come from Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, and the related custody from National Financial Services LLC [1].

Then the page says what those two broker-dealers do not do. Neither offers crypto as a direct investment, and neither provides trading or custody for it [1]. So the crypto sits with the trust bank, and the IRA wrapper sits with the broker. Two firms, one product.

Three account types

The page lists three account types, each with its own card. A Fidelity Crypto Roth IRA, described as tax-free growth. A Fidelity Crypto Traditional IRA, described as tax-deferred growth. And a Fidelity Crypto Rollover IRA, also described as tax-deferred growth [1].

The Roth card carries a footnote, and the footnote is the page’s own statement of the qualified-distribution rule. A qualified distribution from a Roth IRA is tax-free and penalty-free once the 5-year aging requirement is met and one more condition holds [1]. The page lists four: age 59½ or older, disability, a qualified first-time home purchase, or death [1]. That matches the statute the crypto Roth IRA guide walks through, and the page states it as a condition, not a promise.

The linked brokerage IRA

Here is the part of the page that is easy to miss. A Fidelity Crypto IRA does not stand alone. To open one, the holder must also have a Fidelity brokerage IRA of the same registration type, which acts as the funding account [1]. If none exists, the page says Fidelity opens one at the same time [1].

Money moves in two steps. Contributions are made in US dollars to the linked brokerage IRA, and the holder then moves money into the crypto IRA for trading [1]. The page is explicit that a contribution cannot go directly into the crypto IRA [1]. The beneficiary designation is the brokerage IRA’s too, managed from that account [1].

That structure has a consequence the page states plainly. Crypto cannot be transferred to or from a Fidelity Crypto IRA [1]. Coins do not come in from a wallet and do not go out to one. The account buys and sells inside itself, and value leaves as dollars through the brokerage IRA.

Assets and states

The FAQ names the assets. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Solana can be bought and sold in a Fidelity Crypto IRA, subject to availability in the holder’s state [1]. Four assets, as of the fetch date. The page does not say whether the list will grow, and this note does not guess.

Eligibility is a US citizen over the age of 18 who lives in a state where Fidelity Digital Assets can serve customers [1]. The page names two states where the IRA product is not available: California and Oregon [1]. It links to a state check rather than listing every state. So the two named exclusions are the only ones this note can state.

Fees and custody, as printed

The fee answer is one FAQ entry, and it is short. There are no fees to open or maintain a Fidelity Crypto IRA, and none for custody of crypto [1]. Fidelity Digital Assets charges a trading fee of 1% on crypto buy and sell transactions [1]. The entry ends with the line every fee page carries, fees are subject to change, so the 1% is a stated figure on the fetch date and nothing more [1].

The page does not print a spread. It says nothing about the price at which a buy or sell fills, or whether that price differs from a market reference. A trading fee and a spread are two different costs. A page that states one and not the other has stated one.

Custody language is descriptive rather than technical. The page says crypto is held securely and monitored around the clock [1]. It describes cold-vaulted storage, secure and monitored facilities, and multi-layered protocols, and it names the custodian, Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association [1]. It does not describe key management, insurance on the crypto, or what happens to the coins if the trust bank fails.

What the page says crypto is not

The disclosures are the most specific part of the page, and they are worth quoting rather than summing up. Crypto is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, or any other government agency [1]. It is not an obligation of any bank [1]. Investors in crypto do not get the regulatory protections that apply to registered securities, and the page says investing involves risk, including risk of total loss [1].

The page also says who the product is for, twice. Crypto is for investors with a high risk tolerance [1]. That is Fidelity’s sentence, not mine, and it sits on the same page as the three account cards.

The receipt

One page, one date. As fetched, Fidelity’s crypto IRA page states three account types, four assets, and two excluded states [1]. It states no account or custody fees and a 1% trading fee that is subject to change [1]. It states that coins cannot be transferred in or out, and that every contribution enters through a linked brokerage IRA in dollars [1].

It does not state a spread, a key-management model, or an asset roadmap. Those gaps are the page’s, and they stay open here until a page of Fidelity’s closes them. Whether the terms suit anyone is not a question this note answers.