These 3 job ads point to the ambitions of Wall Street's most powerful players in bitcoin

What's a reporter to do when the scoop pipeline has run dry? Turn to LinkedIn, that's what.

Yes, LinkedIn sucks in almost every conceivable way, but the job ads therein are a goldmine for figuring out what's going on inside a company. In many cases, those unearthed informational nuggets can serve as the basis of a big scoop down the road.

Citigroup provides us with the latest example. The New York-based financial services firm appears to be just as deep in the blockchain world as its cross-town rivals — at least according to a recent crypto job ad.

As per a LinkedIn ad for a blockchain role, one unit of the bank — Citi Markets and Securities Services — is working on initiatives across the crypto landscape. "Citi Markets and Securities Services business is working on a number of Blockchain/ Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Digital Asset initiatives that span asset classes, businesses and regions," the bank notes.

The product manager position is no longer accepting applications (sorry, hopefuls!). Even when ads are vague, they at least indicate when a firm is hiring or building out a specific business, which can be valuable info to a professional or wonk.

Even with its soft launch of custody, Fidelity for instance has two roles it recently posted — one for a senior analyst to cover settlement operations and another for a blockchain architect. This is a potential sign it has bigger ambitions than just storing crypto for five tiny hedge funds, a business went live earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Kraken is looking to give its UI a revamp, according to a job ad posted three days ago. "You will be building RESTful API endpoints to improve the experience for our bot traders and support the development of new UI improving the experience for clients," the ad noted.

Some ads make you scratch your head. Like this one at Bakkt for a Director of Blockchain Engineering. You'd think with $180 million in the bank and nearly a year since it announced a launch they'd have someone to cover this role, especially this bit: "Diagnose and resolve system issues in production and external customer facing environments." They also need a Director of Finance — which could serve as additional evidence that the firm is far from its full launch. Bakkt, for the hermits out there, was supposed to launch its much-anticipated crypto futures product in November of last year but that has been stalled by regulatory hurdles. 

How many of my scoops can trace their genesis from LinkedIn you might wonder? I don't scoop and tell.