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

US Fed Vice Chair Says Digital Dollar Would Take 5 Years to Launch

The Federal Reserve’s Lael Brainard says it will take years to build a U.S. CBDC and that the project can only start once Congress and the White House sign off.

Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Lael Brainard predicts a digital dollar could take the central bank many years to build. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Policy

Circle Asks US Fed Not to Step on Its Toes by Launching a Digital Dollar

The public is already served well by private-sector tokens, the USDC stablecoin issuer said in a comment letter to the central bank.

Circle Internet Financial has asked the Federal Reserve to hold off on issuing a digital dollar. (Lance Nelson/Getty Images)

Policy

FTX’s Bankman-Fried Pitches CFTC on Directly Clearing Customers’ Crypto Swaps

The crypto exchange’s founder and CEO made his case at a Washington, D.C., roundtable, while mainstream derivatives firms painted his ideas as dangerous.

Ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried had a lot of interactions with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and two senators are demanding details. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Policy

OCC Chief Hsu: Crypto Industry Has Unhealthy ‘Dependency on Hype’

The acting head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has worked to limit banks’ involvement in cryptocurrencies.

Michael Hsu criticizes crypto at an industry-sponsored event in Washington, D.C. (Jesse Hamilton for CoinDesk)

Policy

US Senators Lummis and Gillibrand Set to Propose Crypto Oversight Bill Next Month

The bipartisan duo hope their bill to establish guardrails around the digital assets industry could get votes as soon as next year.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis helped draft an amendment to a controversial tax provision in the infrastructure bill.

Policy

Wall Street Says a Fed Digital Dollar Spells Destruction for Banks

The U.S. Federal Reserve is considering whether to launch a CBDC like other nations, and bankers argue that’s a dangerous idea.

Bankers are warning the Federal Reserve board about the dangers of launching a digital dollar, at a time when several new members were sworn in this week. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Policy

Fed Vice Chair Pick and Ex-Ripple Adviser Tells Senators Crypto Needs Regulation

Former U.S. Treasury official Michael Barr fielded questions about crypto during his Senate nomination hearing.

Federal Reserve vice chairman nominee Michael Barr (Senate Banking Committee)

Policy

Biden Administration Wants Crypto Exchanges to Separate Customer and Corporate Funds

Federal officials saw Coinbase’s admission about customers’ vulnerability in a bankruptcy and will call for congressional action to segregate clients’ funds, source says.

The Biden administration is pushing for legislation that would fence off customer funds within crypto exchanges, keeping them safe in an exchange failure. (Andrey Denisyuk/Getty Images)

Policy

SEC’s Gensler Uses Crypto Oversight Needs as Case for Higher Budget

SEC Chair Gary Gensler told U.S. House budget appropriators that he’d like to be doing more to protect crypto investors.

SEC Chair Gensler (Evelyn Hockstein-Pool/Getty Images)

Policy

German Regulator Calls for New DeFi Laws

BaFin's Birgit Rodolphe cites the potential for fraud and investor losses.

Skyscrapers in Frankfurt, Germany (lupengyu/Getty Images)