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

Federal Reserve Governor Reinforces US Regulators’ Preference for Keeping Crypto Apart From Banks

Christopher Waller noted that the separation has kept the U.S. financial system out of crypto’s drama, and he’s hopeful the sector can work out its recent issues.

U.S. Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)

Policy

Are the Remaining Crypto Giants Staring Down the Barrel of the US Government’s Gun?

Insiders, experts and the rhetoric of officials suggest a reckoning with the government is inevitable for the big exchanges, and this week’s action against Kraken could be just the beginning.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Chairman Gary Gensler (Alex Wong/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk)

Policy

Will the SEC Convince a Court It’s Right to Label These Tokens as Securities?

The U.S. agency’s insider-trading case against a former Coinbase manager hinged on nine tokens it classified as securities, but the ex-employee’s lawyers are saying it’s not so.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Policy

SEC Directs Examiners to Focus on How US Broker-Dealers Are Pitching Crypto

The U.S. securities regulator issued its annual examination priorities on how it’ll keep track of emerging risks. The handling of crypto was one of the highlights.

Comisión de Bolsa y Valores de Estados Unidos. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Policy

SEC Warns That Retirement Accounts’ Crypto Stakes May Be Unregistered Securities

The agency issued an investor alert flagging self-directed retirement accounts that may be provided bad information about their crypto holdings.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C.  (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Policy

FTX Money Backed US Lawmakers With Future of Crypto in Their Hands

The campaigns of 38% of those on the four most important committees, including key leaders, got money from former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and other executives, according to Federal Election Commission records.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Policy

US CFTC Chief Promises More ‘Precedent-Setting’ Crypto Enforcement Cases

Commission Chairman Behnam says his agency is gearing up for another year of significant actions in the crypto industry as he tries to ramp up his enforcement staff.

Rostin Behnam, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Policy

US Senate Banking Committee to Hold ‘Crypto Crash’ Hearing This Month

Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown announced the hearing on digital assets safeguards for Feb. 14.

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Policy

FBI: North Korean Hackers Behind $100M Horizon Bridge Theft

Lazarus Group and APT38, both associated with North Korea, are responsible for the attack in June, the agency concluded.

(Brooks Kraft/Corbis via Getty Images)

Consensus Magazine

After FTX: How Congress Is Gearing Up to Regulate Crypto

The industry is finally earning the priority status it desperately wanted, but for the wrong reasons, says CoinDesk's Jesse Hamilton.

(Rachel Sun/CoinDesk)