Fidelity Digital Assets Settles Investigation into California Crypto Withdrawal Restrictions
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that his office has reached a $500,000 settlement with Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association, the successor entity to Fidelity Digital Asset Services, over the company’s former practice of restricting California retail customers from transferring cryptocurrency to external wallets. Regulators found that the practice may have violated the California Commodity Law of 1990, which restricts certain speculative commodity contracts unless buyers take physical delivery within a specified period. California considers the ability to withdraw cryptocurrency the functional equivalent of delivery. From November 2022 to April 2025, California customers could buy and sell cryptocurrency on the Fidelity platform but could not send their assets directly to external wallets. Fidelity said the restriction stemmed from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) not having approved the feature at the time. Approval was granted in April 2025, and the transfer feature was extended to all California retail customers in June 2025.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that his office has reached a $500,000 settlement with Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association, the successor entity to Fidelity Digital Asset Services, over the company’s former practice of restricting California retail customers from transferring cryptocurrency to external wallets. Regulators found that the practice may have violated the California Commodity Law of 1990, which restricts certain speculative commodity contracts unless buyers take physical delivery within a specified period. California considers the ability to withdraw cryptocurrency the functional equivalent of delivery. From November 2022 to April 2025, California customers could buy and sell cryptocurrency on the Fidelity platform but could not send their assets directly to external wallets. Fidelity said the restriction stemmed from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) not having approved the feature at the time. Approval was granted in April 2025, and the transfer feature was extended to all California retail customers in June 2025.