Fidelity’s $500,000 California Crypto Settlement Excludes IRAs

Fidelity Digital Assets will pay California $500,000 under a settlement related to past restrictions on crypto withdrawals. The agreement requires written notice if the company stops offering ordinary crypto transfers to retail customers but excludes individual retirement accounts and other tax-advantaged accounts.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the agreement on Oct. 16, 2026. Fidelity entered the settlement without admitting wrongdoing and denied violating the law. The payment covers investigation-related fees and costs and will not fund compensation for customers.

The agreement covers the period from November 2022 through April 2025. During that period, California retail customers could buy and sell cryptocurrency through Fidelity but could not transfer it directly to external wallets. Fidelity received regulatory permission to offer the feature in April 2025 and made transfers available to all California customers by June 2025.

Fidelity must give California customers reasonable written notice if it ends ordinary crypto transfers for retail customers. The company may still restrict or block transfers to protect its platform or individual accounts, subject to applicable law.

The settlement excludes tax-advantaged accounts from the transfer requirement. Covered accounts include Fidelity Crypto IRAs and accounts subject to federal rules for tax-free transfers between retirement accounts. The agreement states that Fidelity plans to launch Crypto IRA accounts in California, but does not provide a launch date.

Fidelity’s current information for customers lists Crypto IRAs as unavailable in California and Oregon. In states where the accounts are offered, customers cannot withdraw cryptocurrency or money directly from a Crypto IRA. They can transfer money from the account’s U.S. dollar balance to a linked Fidelity brokerage IRA and use that account’s withdrawal options.

Fidelity’s state-availability information, checked on Oct. 18, 2026, lists cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals for ordinary Fidelity Crypto accounts in California. The settlement’s transfer provisions apply to those retail accounts, not to Fidelity’s separate IRA product.