The Canadian arm of Fidelity Investments has emerged as a backer to a tech start-up that provides extra-secure custody services for digital currencies, to allay the security fears that have deterred many institutional investors.

Knox was set up in early 2018 with $6.2m from seed funders including Fidelity Investments Canada and the venture capital funds Initialized Capital, iNovia Capital, FJ Labs and Ferst Capital. The custody firm began taking deposits behind the scenes in the summer of last year.