David Z. Morris

David Z. Morris was CoinDesk's Chief Insights Columnist. He has written about crypto since 2013 for outlets including Fortune, Slate, and Aeon. He is the author of "Bitcoin is Magic," an introduction to Bitcoin's social dynamics. He is a former academic sociologist of technology with a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Iowa. He holds Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and small amounts of other crypto assets.

David Z. Morris

Latest from David Z. Morris


Opinion

‘Get a Horse!’: What Crypto Can Learn From Early Automakers' Struggle for Acceptance

Automotive pioneers were surrounded by fraudsters, hated by banks and attacked by trolls. Sound familiar?

old timey car (Wikimedia Commons)

Opinion

Threads Is Libra and Meta All Over Again

With his Twitter clone’s decentralized architecture, Mark Zuckerberg is yet again borrowing from crypto’s best ideas. Third time’s the charm?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies about the Libra (Diem) project before the House Financial Services Committee on October 23, 2019. The hearings helped expose just how shallow Facebook's first claims of "decentralization" were. Now, with Threads, they're trying again. (Getty Images)

Opinion

The Broke Ape Yacht Crash: Lessons for Justin Bieber and Other NFT Collectors

Why has Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape universe collapsed in value?

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT image (Yuga Labs, modified by CoinDesk))

Opinion

How Much Is Too Much to Spend on FTX's Bankruptcy?

Are Sam Bankman-Fried’s victims being ripped off a second time?

John J. Ray III, CEO of FTX Group, has spent huge sums taking the failed exchange through bankruptcy. Is FTX simply that much more complex than Ray's last big unwind - Enron? (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Opinion

The Second FTX Asset Recovery Report Is Packed With Bombshells

New claims put Sam Bankman-Fried and his friends even closer to the center of a brazen conspiracy.

New FTX CEO John J. Ray III (C-Span)

Consensus Magazine

Singapore: The Center of Asian Crypto Wealth Is Ready for a Reset

A fintech hub turned early crypto adopter, Singapore raised billions through ICOs. Cue parties on yachts and at luxury villas. But after the collapse of homegrown crypto darlings Terraform Labs and Three Arrows Capital, the No. 2 spot in CoinDesk’s Crypto Hubs 2023 is searching for the right regulatory balance to encourage crypto without getting burned again.

Gemini co-founders Tyler & Cameron Winklevoss, seen in colorful tuxedos,  announced in June that they will expand their Singapore headcount to more than 100 employees, about 20% of the total worldwide staff.

Consensus Magazine

Seoul: Asia’s Retail Crypto Capital Moves on After Do Kwon

South Korea’s nearly 7 million registered users, many in the nation’s capital, show a huge interest in trading crypto. But No. 4 in CoinDesk’s Crypto Hubs 2023 is still licking its wounds after the catastrophic collapse of Terra blockchain – for a time, South Korea’s favorite crypto project.

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-Yeol celebrates his victory (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Consensus Magazine

Ljubljana: It’s a Beautiful Life in This Crypto Payments Hotbed

This unsung Central European success story features famous philosophers, a striking landscape and a high quality of life. And the No. 14 spot in CoinDesk’s Crypto Hubs 2023 has a crypto ecosystem that punches vastly above its weight.

View of Ljubljana from a canal, under a bright blue sky (Eugene Kuznetsov/Unsplash)

Consensus Magazine

Lisbon: A Buzzy, Affordable Mecca for Buy-and-Hold Crypto Nomads

Portugal’s coastal capital offers a top-shelf European quality of life at discount prices. The No. 15 spot on CoinDesk’s Crypto Hubs 2023 attracts creative and entrepreneurial expats with a lively calendar of Web3 events, prized “digital nomad” visa and crypto-friendly tax laws.

Stunning view of Lisbon from a manicured green lawn in foreground to the sea on the horizon (Sally Wilson/Pixabay)