Jesse Hamilton

Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor on the Global Policy and Regulation team, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022, he worked for more than a decade covering Wall Street regulation at Bloomberg News and Businessweek, writing about the early whisperings among federal agencies trying to decide what to do about crypto. He’s won several national honors in his reporting career, including from his time as a war correspondent in Iraq and as a police reporter for newspapers. Jesse is a graduate of Western Washington University, where he studied journalism and history. He has no crypto holdings.

Jesse Hamilton

Latest from Jesse Hamilton


Policy

Bitcoin Favored in Human Trafficking, Child Exploitation: FinCEN Report

The Treasury's financial-crimes arm found that bitcoin was increasingly popular for use in trafficking of people and materials tied to child sexual abuse, though the data is from 2021.

The U.S. Treasury Department's financial crimes arm reported on the use of bitcoin in human trafficking and other global crimes. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Policy

The SEC Takes on Dealer Definitions

The new definition may shake the foundations of decentralized finance – and the agency doesn't care.

SEC logo (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

Policy

Crypto Political Group Fairshake Targets California Senate Candidate Katie Porter

The super PAC said it's spending millions to oppose the Democrat lawmaker in her Senate race, but her campaign says it's a "scheme to mislead voters."

Crypto political action committee Fairshake is targeting Sen. Katie Porter in California. (CoinDesk screen capture from Fairshake ad)

Policy

Ripple to Buy New York Crypto Trust Company to Expand U.S. Options

Standard Custody & Trust Co., which has a New York charter, will be the latest acquisition to grow Ripple's regulatory qualifications.

Ripple (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Policy

New York Expands Fraud Case Against Digital Currency Group to $3 Billion

An initial lawsuit accusing crypto firm DCG of cheating people out of $1 billion has been amplified by investors coming forward with losses tripling that, the NY attorney general said.

Barry Silbert. CEO & Founder Digital Currency Group (DCG)

Policy

UK’s Planned Stablecoin Rules Need Reworking, Crypto Advocates Say

Industry groups argue they see inconsistencies in regulatory plans by the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Crypto lobbying groups are arguing the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority should rethink some of their ideas for regulating stablecoins. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Opinion

Ether’s Prometheum Test

The “only U.S.-registered crypto securities platform" is listing ETH in a bold test of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's thesis that most cryptocurrencies are securities.

(Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk, modified)

Policy

U.S. Senators Berate SEC's Gensler for Agency's 'Unethical' Handling of Crypto Case

Republican lawmakers wrote to the SEC chairman, arguing that its misrepresenting of evidence against DEBT Box casts doubt on the agency's other enforcement matters.

Gary Gensler's SEC must now decide what to do about multiple applications for BTC and ETH ETFs (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Policy

Prometheum, the Only U.S.-Registered Crypto Platform, Picks Ether as Its First Product

The much-debated crypto broker says it's poised to start its SEC-compliant custody with ETH, then will soon add other names and begin a trading operation within months.

Co-CEO Aaron Kaplan's Prometheum is planning to start its crypto custody business with Ethereum's ETH. (Screen capture/U.S. House Financial Services Committee)

Policy

U.S. SEC Clears 'Dealer' Rule Expansion That Could Rope in DeFi

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a final rule Tuesday that DeFi interests call "hostile" to that sector, potentially requiring projects to register as dealers.

Chair Gary Gensler's U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is weighing Hashdex's ETF application, which analysts suggest could have a leg up because of its novel approach.  (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)