Yes, you can buy bitcoin on Fidelity, but the honest answer needs a footnote: Fidelity does not give you one single way to do it. If you are a US citizen, at least 18, and you live in a state where the service is offered, Fidelity currently gives you three genuinely different paths — a standalone Fidelity Crypto account where you buy real bitcoin and can send it to your own wallet, a spot Bitcoin ETF called FBTC that you trade inside an ordinary brokerage account like any stock, and a Fidelity Crypto IRA that lets you hold actual bitcoin inside a retirement account. These three options do not share the same fee structure, the same custody setup, or the same tax paperwork, and picking the wrong one can leave you holding something you did not actually want — a fund share instead of coin you can move, for example.
Three different products, all called buying bitcoin on Fidelity
The first option is the Fidelity Crypto account. This sits outside your regular brokerage account entirely. Custody and trade execution run through Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association, a trust bank entity — not through Fidelity Brokerage Services or National Financial Services, the entities that handle your stocks and mutual funds. What you own in this account is real bitcoin on the blockchain, and Fidelity has rolled out the ability to deposit and withdraw that bitcoin to outside wallets.
The second option is FBTC, short for the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, a spot Bitcoin ETF that trades on the Cboe BZX exchange and holds physical bitcoin as its underlying asset. You do not need a separate crypto account for this one. You buy it through your existing regular brokerage account or an IRA, placing an order during market hours the same way you would for any other exchange-traded fund. The catch is that you own fund shares, not bitcoin itself — there is no mechanism to redeem FBTC shares for on-chain BTC and send it anywhere.
The third option, the Fidelity Crypto IRA, takes the first product — direct bitcoin ownership — and places it inside a retirement wrapper. It currently covers Traditional, Rollover, and Roth IRAs, and if you do not already have a matching IRA, Fidelity sets one up alongside the crypto account during onboarding.
Comparing the three routes at a glance
| What you're comparing | Fidelity Crypto account | FBTC (spot ETF) | Fidelity Crypto IRA |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you actually own | Real bitcoin on-chain | Shares of a fund that tracks bitcoin | Real bitcoin, held inside an IRA |
| Can you withdraw to your own wallet | Yes, deposits and withdrawals to external wallets are supported | No — you can only buy or sell shares | Generally restricted by standard IRA custody rules, not a normal self-withdraw setup |
| Fee structure | Roughly a 1% spread built into buy/sell price, no account or custody fee | 0.25% annual expense ratio (in effect since August 2024) | Similar spread-based pricing to the standalone Crypto account |
| Account type | Non-retirement individual account | Any regular brokerage or IRA that trades ETFs | Traditional, Rollover, or Roth IRA |
| SIPC / FDIC coverage | No — explicitly not covered by either | Shares sit in a normal brokerage account with standard securities-account protections, but the bitcoin price itself and the underlying asset are not SIPC/FDIC covered | No, same as the standalone Crypto account |
| Roughly who it fits | People who want real bitcoin they can eventually move off-platform | People who just want price exposure inside a taxable or retirement account and don't care about withdrawing coin | People who want long-term bitcoin exposure specifically inside a retirement account |
Eligibility and geography: not every state, not every person
To open a Fidelity Crypto account, Fidelity's own eligibility rules require US citizenship, being at least 18, and living in a state where Fidelity Digital Assets is licensed to operate. Several independent reviews published in 2026 note that the service is not available in all fifty states — New York and Hawaii come up repeatedly as excluded in these write-ups, often tied to extra state-level licensing requirements such as New York's BitLicense regime or stricter custody and disclosure rules that make it costly for a conservative institution like Fidelity to launch there. That list of eligible states shifts as regulations change, so the only reliable way to know your own status is to check directly in Fidelity's account-opening flow with your real address, not to trust a screenshot from an old article.
And if you are outside the US entirely, the whole picture changes — more on that below, because assuming the US product applies to you is one of the more common mistakes people make here.
Fee details: a roughly 1% spread versus a 0.25% annual fee
The Fidelity Crypto account does not charge a separate trading commission, an account-opening fee, or an ongoing custody fee. Instead, roughly a 1% spread is built into every buy and sell — meaning the price you actually pay (or receive) differs from the quoted market price by about that amount, and that gap is how Fidelity gets paid on the transaction rather than through a line-item fee on your statement. That 1% spread has stayed consistent since the product launched and applies to the other supported coins as well, not just bitcoin.
FBTC works on a completely different pricing model. It charges a 0.25% annual expense ratio, deducted from fund assets rather than billed to you directly, a rate that took effect on August 1, 2024, after an introductory fee waiver during the fund's first several months on the market. Do the math and that works out to roughly $25 a year for every $10,000 you hold — you never see a bill, it just quietly comes out of the fund's net asset value over time. If you do withdraw bitcoin from a Fidelity Crypto account to an outside wallet, you'll also pay a standard blockchain network fee — that one goes to bitcoin miners, not to Fidelity.
Funding your purchase: money has to land somewhere first
Funding works in two steps, not one. You move money into your regular Fidelity brokerage core account first, using an ACH bank transfer or a wire, and once that cash has settled, you move it again from the brokerage account into your Fidelity Crypto account balance before you can actually place a buy order. That settlement step typically takes anywhere from same-day to a few business days depending on the method, so if you're trying to catch a specific price, build that lag into your planning rather than assuming instant execution the moment you decide to buy.
One thing worth knowing that applies well beyond Fidelity: a lot of card issuers code cryptocurrency purchases as cash advances rather than ordinary purchases. If your transaction gets coded that way, you're usually looking at interest accruing immediately with no grace period, plus an extra cash-advance fee on top. This isn't a Fidelity-specific policy claim — it's a broader card-issuer pattern worth checking with your own bank before you assume a card is the cheap or convenient option on any crypto platform.
Custody and insurance: SIPC and FDIC don't cover the bitcoin itself
Fidelity's own disclosures are blunt about this: digital assets are not insured by the FDIC, are not protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, and are not an obligation of any bank. Assets in a Fidelity Crypto account sit with that separate trust-bank custodian mentioned earlier, which is a fundamentally different protection framework than the SIPC coverage that applies to the stocks and funds in your regular brokerage account.
To be fair, Fidelity does carry its own commercial insurance covering things like theft of custodied assets or a cybersecurity breach on their end. What that insurance does not cover is your own mistake — sending bitcoin to the wrong address, or getting phished and handing over your login. Those losses are typically unrecoverable and fall outside any insurance policy Fidelity carries. This is arguably the single biggest practical difference between owning bitcoin directly and owning a security like FBTC, and it's worth understanding before you move money, not after something goes wrong.
Withdrawing to your own wallet: doable, with caveats
Fidelity has enabled deposits and withdrawals of supported coins, including bitcoin, between a Fidelity Crypto account and external wallets. Before you can use it, you'll go through identity verification and two-factor authentication, and both sides of a transfer need to be on the same network — bitcoin mainnet to bitcoin mainnet, for instance. Get the destination address wrong and the funds are usually gone for good, with no insurance backstop to fall back on. The sending side typically covers the network's miner fee; the receiving wallet generally doesn't incur an extra charge on top of that. If self-custody and the ability to move coin freely is your actual goal, this feature is the real reason to choose the Fidelity Crypto account over FBTC. If you just want price exposure inside an account you already use and don't care about holding your own keys, FBTC or the Crypto IRA is probably simpler.
Taxes: a new form starting with the 2025 tax year
Starting with the 2025 tax year, US brokers are required to report customer crypto sales on a new IRS form, Form 1099-DA, which parallels the 1099-B that stock trades already generate. It's the first IRS form built specifically for digital asset sales, and accounts with 2025 activity should expect to receive theirs by roughly mid-February 2026. One important limitation: cost basis for bitcoin bought or transferred in before 2026 isn't necessarily required to be reported by the broker, so you may need to track and verify that basis yourself. Gains and losses still flow through Form 8949 and then onto Schedule D of your 1040. All of this is US federal tax machinery specifically — if you're filing outside the US, your reporting requirements and rates vary by jurisdiction, and you should not assume American form names or thresholds apply to you.
Security checks and the scams that target this exact search
Before you go any further, run through basic account security: confirm you're on the real login URL or official app, turn on two-factor authentication, review your notification settings, and check for any recent login alerts you don't recognize. People searching for whether they can buy bitcoin on Fidelity tend to run into a lot of ads, lookalike pages, and unsolicited messages on social platforms. The common playbook is someone posing as support, sending a fake account-opening link, offering to “walk you through” the process, or pitching an “exclusive bitcoin access channel” — all designed to get your verification code or get you to send money directly. Treat any request to move funds into a personal account as a red flag, don't trust any third party claiming they can “activate” crypto access for you, and never share a text code, recovery code, or email verification link with anyone claiming to be support staff.
If you're outside the US: “Fidelity” may mean a different company entirely
If you're not a US resident, this matters more than almost anything else in this article: Fidelity is not one global product line. In the UK, for example, the business is run by a related but separate company, Fidelity International, which received approval from the Financial Conduct Authority and began offering a physical Bitcoin ETP (exchange-traded product) to clients on its advised platform starting November 3, 2025. That product sits under different regulation, different eligibility rules, and a different fee structure than the US Fidelity Crypto account described above — it is simply not the same thing wearing the same logo. If you're outside the US, the right move is to check what the Fidelity entity operating in your country actually offers and who can access it, rather than assuming the American walkthrough applies to you.
Actually doing it: from checking eligibility to your first small buy
Start by logging into your Fidelity account and checking the crypto or digital assets section to confirm your residency and identity meet the requirements. Next, get clear on what you actually want — real bitcoin you might eventually move off-platform, which points you toward the Fidelity Crypto account or Crypto IRA, or just price exposure inside an account you already use, which points you toward FBTC. Then fund your regular brokerage account by ACH or wire and wait for that money to settle before moving it into the relevant account. Finally, place a small first purchase you're comfortable with and confirm the trade confirmation, position display, tax document section, and support channel all make sense before you commit more money.
Frequently asked questions
If I see bitcoin mentioned somewhere in my Fidelity account, does that mean I can buy it right there?
Not necessarily. What you're looking at could be a research page, information about FBTC, or the entry point for opening a separate Fidelity Crypto account — three different things pointing at three different products. Confirm which one you're actually looking at before assuming you can just click buy.
What's the real difference between buying bitcoin directly and buying FBTC on Fidelity?
The core difference is whether you end up with an asset you can move off the platform. The Fidelity Crypto account gives you bitcoin you can withdraw to an external wallet, which means you're responsible for your own wallet security and address accuracy. FBTC gives you shares in a fund carrying a 0.25% annual fee — it trades like any other stock or ETF, but there's no “withdraw to my wallet” option because you never held the underlying coin yourself.
Can someone who isn't a US resident buy bitcoin through Fidelity?
The US Fidelity Crypto account specifically requires US citizenship, being 18 or older, and residency in an eligible state, so non-US residents generally can't open that particular account. If you're in a market like the UK, look at what the local Fidelity entity — Fidelity International — actually offers, since it's a separate product under separate regulation, not the same service.
Is my crypto on Fidelity protected by SIPC or FDIC insurance?
No. Fidelity's own disclosures state plainly that digital assets aren't covered by FDIC insurance or SIPC protection. That's a meaningful difference from the stocks and funds in your regular brokerage account, and it's something to understand clearly before deciding whether direct bitcoin ownership is right for you.
If I send bitcoin to the wrong wallet address, can Fidelity get it back for me?
Almost certainly not. Fidelity's insurance on custodied assets is built to cover things like theft or a cybersecurity breach on their end, not user error like mistyping a withdrawal address or falling for a phishing link. Double-checking the destination address and sending a small test amount first is really the only protection you have.
If you're about to act on this, do four things first: confirm your state and account type actually qualify, decide whether you want on-chain coin or fund shares, read the fee and insurance fine print for whichever option you pick, and run one small test transaction before committing real money. Getting those four steps right matters a lot more than rushing to find the buy button.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Fees, state eligibility, and product terms mentioned here can change over time, so confirm current details directly through Fidelity's official channels before acting. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and you could lose your entire investment — do your own research and make decisions carefully.