California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office has reached a $500,000 settlement with Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association, the successor entity to Fidelity Digital Asset Services. The case centered on the company’s past practice of preventing retail customers in California from transferring cryptocurrency to external wallets.
State regulators said the restriction may have run afoul of the California Commodity Law of 1990, which limits certain speculative commodity contracts unless the buyer receives actual delivery within a set period. California treated the ability to withdraw crypto as the functional equivalent of delivery.
From November 2022 through April 2025, California customers were able to buy and sell crypto on Fidelity’s platform but could not send those assets directly to outside wallets. Fidelity said the restriction was tied to the fact that the New York State Department of Financial Services, or NYDFS, had not yet approved the feature at the time. That approval arrived in April 2025, and the transfer function was expanded to all California retail customers in June 2025.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office has reached a $500,000 settlement with Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association, the successor entity to Fidelity Digital Asset Services.
The settlement concerns the company’s earlier practice of restricting retail customers in California from transferring cryptocurrency to external wallets. Regulators said that practice may have violated the California Commodity Law of 1990.
Dispute centered on withdrawal limits and delivery rules
Under the law, certain speculative commodity contracts are restricted unless the buyer receives actual delivery within a prescribed period. California treated the ability to withdraw cryptocurrency as the functional equivalent of delivery.
From November 2022 to April 2025, customers in California could buy and sell cryptocurrency on Fidelity’s platform, but they could not send those assets directly to external wallets.
Fidelity cited NYDFS approval timeline
Fidelity said the restriction stemmed from the fact that the New York State Department of Financial Services, or NYDFS, had not approved the feature at the time. Approval was granted in April 2025, and the transfer feature was expanded to all California retail customers in June 2025.
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