While many traditional financial institutions hesitate to embrace cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, a recent news report suggests that Fidelity Investments, the fourth largest U.S. asset manager, is looking to enter the fray. Business Insider reported last week that Fidelity has posted internal job listings for systems engineers “to help engineer, create, and deploy a digital asset exchange to both a public and private cloud.” Another job listing looked for experience related to “first-in-class custodian services for bitcoin and other digital currencies.”
Commentators note that it makes sense that Fidelity would want to make cryptocurrencies available to its sizeable customer base, many of whom might be hesitant to trust lesser-known exchanges such as Coinbase. Fidelity would not confirm that it is building its own cryptocurrency exchange, but the company’s spokesperson did state that Fidelity is hiring for projects related to “open and permissionless ledgers, with technologies like digital assets, currencies and blockchain.”
Blockchain security firm Hosho, was quick to express concern that Fidelity’s unconfirmed plans could make it a prime target for cyber-attacks. Noting Fidelity’s 2.5 trillion in assets under management, the CEO of Hosho, Yo Kwon, stated that “While it’s great that a company like Fidelity is moving towards blockchain and digital asset adoption, the risk factors associated with the move are that much greater. Fidelity will potentially introduce a large number of users onto its exchange, which by extension, means a large amount of assets being moved around. Fidelity could expose themselves as hacker bait — the greater the bait, the more motivated hackers will be to get inside.”