The debate over the institutional use of Bitcoin continues, as Fidelity allows IRA investment into Bitcoin, but then quickly reverses their position:

Following what we can only imagine was uproar following our discussion of Fidelity “allowing self-directed IRA holders to ‘invest’ in Bitcoin,” [3] the company has very quickly reversed policy… As MarketWatch notes [4],

“On an individual basis, we allowed an investor to invest in that Bitcoin Investment Trust,” said Rob Beauregard, director of public relations at Fidelity, in a telephone interview Thursday morning. “We are no longer allowing that.”

The firm is not commenting on why that was allowed, and added “reviews are going on.”

Via MarketWatch [4],

Fidelity Investments is no longer allowing clients to invest in the virtual currency bitcoin through SecondMarket’s Bitcoin Investment Trust, a representative for Fidelity told MarketWatch on Thursday.

…

On Thursday,  a Fidelity spokesman told MarketWatch that such investments are no longer allowed. The spokesman couldn’t confirm when or why the policy was changed.

“On an individual basis, we allowed an investor to invest in that Bitcoin Investment Trust,” said Rob Beauregard, director of public relations at Fidelity, in a telephone interview Thursday morning. “We are no longer allowing that.”

He continued: “We’re not commenting right now on why that was first allowed. There are reviews going on, and we’ll make a decision at a later date. At this time, it is not available on our retail platform.”

SecondMarket maintained Thursday that certain Fidelity clients can invest in bitcoin through the Bitcoin Investment Trust. “It is only accredited investors [who] have IRA accounts that are eligible to invest through Fidelity,” SecondMarket’s Silbert said in an email.