Nick Baker

Nick Baker is CoinDesk's deputy editor-in-chief. He won a Loeb Award for editing CoinDesk's coverage of FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried, including Ian Allison's scoop that caused SBF's empire to collapse. Before joining in 2022, he worked at Bloomberg News for 16 years as a reporter, editor and manager. Previously, he was a reporter at Dow Jones Newswires, wrote for The Wall Street Journal and earned a journalism degree from Ohio University. He owns more than $1,000 of BTC and SOL.

Nick Baker

Latest from Nick Baker


Policy

Plan a Crypto Mine Near a U.S. Military Base? Expect a Bigger Hassle Now.

The U.S. Treasury Department issued a rule promising extra scrutiny for businesses near military sites, having already targeted a Chinese-backed crypto operation by a Wyoming missile base.

Chinese-owned MineOne is said to have built a crypto mining operation within a mile of a U.S. missile base. (Warren Air Force Base)

Finance

Michael Saylor Conjures Stock Market Magic With Giant Plan to Buy More Bitcoin

Normally, a $21 billion equity offering by a company only worth just over double that amount would tank the issuer's stock price. But the economics around corporate America's biggest bitcoin bull are different.

MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor (CoinDesk/Danny Nelson)

Finance

Trump's Crypto Business Slashes Fundraise Goal by 90% After Lackluster Sales

The revised plan to sell only $30 million of WLFI tokens — instead of the originally planned $300 million — suggests Trump may not quickly see a big payday from World Liberty Financial.

Donald Trump at BTC 2024 (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Policy

Freed From Prison, Binance Founder CZ Gets Ovation in Dubai and Talks New Educational Venture

Changpeng Zhao, who stepped down as the crypto exchange's CEO last year amid a multi-billion-dollar settlement with the U.S., spoke at a conference in front of a standing-room-only crowd.

Changpeng Zhao makes first public appearance since prison release (Nik De/CoinDesk)

Finance

Fortune Claims Polymarket Is 'Rife' With Wash Trading

As much as a third of the prediction market's volume is inflated by traders acting as the buyer and seller — an illegal practice in TradFi — on the same trades, Fortune reported. Some could be doing it to farm a future token airdrop.

Funny portrait of a welsh corgi pembroke dog showering with shampoo.  Dog taking a bubble bath in grooming salon.

Policy

Inspired by Trump, Florida Official Eyes State Bitcoin Stockpile for Retirees

Citing presidential candidate Donald Trump's remarks on a U.S. strategic crypto reserve, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis is pushing the idea for state pension funds.

Donald Trump's remarks at BTC 2024 have inspired Forida's chief financial official to put pension money into bitcoin. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Finance

Crypto Trading Firm DWF Labs Fires a Partner After Drink-Spiking Allegations

An X account posted that on Oct. 24 a partner at DWF drugged her at a bar — and was caught on camera doing it

Hong Kong (Fidel Fernando/Unsplash)

Markets

As 'Sentient Memecoins' Become Latest Crypto Fad, GOAT Surges to $800M and an AI Rambles

Some claim a new wave of big-money tokens are backed by sentient AI bots. But that's not the reality.

image of a crypto trader aka degen (Anjo Clacino/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)

Finance

Bitcoin Miners Are Pivoting to AI to Survive. Core Scientific Entered the Race Years Ago

AI clusters and bitcoin mining operations have vastly different needs. Core Scientific's chief development officer gets down to the nitty gritty.

Core Scientific's Marble facility in North Carolina. (Core Scientific)

Policy

Peter Todd Says Even Reports of His 'Going Into Hiding' Are Exaggerated

Weeks after a widely panned HBO documentary claimed Todd is Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, Wired reported the former Core dev is avoiding the public eye. Yet he's speaking at conferences.

Former Bitcoin developer Peter Todd, left (HBO)