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Fidelity Digital Assets — the cryptocurrency unit of investment giant Fidelity — is looking to bring on as many as 20 engineers as part of a hiring initiative to ramp up development of its crypto trading and custody services.

The company, which first entered the market in late 2018, already provides hedge funds and other institutional investors with bitcoin custody and trade execution. The build-out of the team would help the firm serve the increase in institutional demand for such services, the firm said in a new blog post. 

“Over the next several months, we plan to hire more than twenty engineers across the full spectrum of our technology stack to capitalize on increased market demand and to expand our overall capabilities,” the company said in the blog. “We’re looking to bring on passionate and innovative developers who enjoy collaborating in a rapidly changing environment.”

The new talent could help the firm expand beyond bitcoin into other digital assets, like Ethereum’s ETH. The move may also help the firm offer sub-custody to traditional banking firms.

As reported by The Block, JPMorgan has been engaging with cryptocurrency firms about leveraging their tech to offer crypto custody to their clients. Earlier this year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave federally-registered banks the green light to custody digital  assets—a move many industry insiders say could make banks more comfortable with offering access to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. 

“In particular, the clarity from the OCC earlier this year has accelerated interest and development for many banks and traditional institutions, and the Fidelity Digital Assets infrastructure helps them gain faster access to the marketplace, as well as develop new offerings based on our secure stack,” a spokesman said in an emailed statement. 

“The demand for a brokerage partner has steadily increased with this year’s price action and a new wave of traditional financial institutions taking strong interest in the digital asset class,” the spokesman added. 

Earlier this year, Fidelity released a report that showed more than 80% of investors found “something appealing about the asset class.”

“22% of U.S. respondents invested in digital assets have exposure via futures, which is a substantial increase relative to 9% of U.S. investors surveyed in 2019,” the survey found. 

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Bloomberg News reports that the U.S. Justice Department has seized and is now seeking the forfeiture of thousands of bitcoins tied to the now-defunct Silk Road dark web market, with the holdings valued in excess of $1 billion.

“The cryptocurrency seizure, tied to the Silk Road marketplace, is the largest the U.S. has ever effected, the Justice Department said in a statement,” according to the Terminal report.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The report comes days after 69,369 bitcoins were moved out of a wallet address — the first such activity for the collected holdings since 2015, as The Block previously reported. It is not immediately clear if these funds are connected to the reported Justice Department seizure. But connections have been drawn between the moved bitcoins and the Silk Road, which was shuttered by U.S. law enforcement in 2013.

This news is developing and this report will be updated as more information is obtained.

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The price of bitcoin has surpassed the $15,000 market for the first time since January 2018. 

The move continues the price run that started in early October. On Thursday, bitcoin reached a new high for 2020 above $14,000. 

At press time, bitcoin is trading hands on Coinbase at about $15,150 — representing a 24-hour increase of nearly 9 percent. 

Source: TradingView

November has seen notable price movements, continuing a ramp-up in activity seen as October drew to a close. Open interest in bitcoin options surged to an all-time high by the end of the month, and monthly trade volumes also hit a new peak of $5.8 billion.

October was a busy month as well for overall network use, according to data collected by The Block. New data indicates that adjusted on-chain volume for the Bitcoin network has continued to grow since that time.

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.