Sam Kessler

Sam is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for tech and protocols. His reporting is focused on decentralized technology, infrastructure and governance. Sam holds a computer science degree from Harvard University, where he led the Harvard Political Review. He has a background in the technology industry and owns some ETH and BTC. Sam was part of the team that won a 2023 Gerald Loeb Award for CoinDesk's coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX collapse.

Sam Kessler

Dernières de Sam Kessler


Technologies

Lido Tests of 'Distributed Validator Technology' Portend 2024 Decentralization Push

A big selling point of blockchain networks is that they are "decentralized." But just a few validators, including those run by Lido, have gradually amassed a lion's share of the power over the dominant smat-contracts blockchain, Ethereum. One idea is to decentralize the validators themselves.

"Validators are single-engine planes. If a validator goes down, it's offline," said Brett Li, head of growth at Obol Labs. (Daniel Eledut/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)

Finance

Ledger Exploit Drained $484K, Upended DeFi; Former Staffer Linked to Malicious Code

Security firm Blockaid's CEO told CoinDesk that users are still at risk.

Hacker (Towfiqu Barbhuiya/Unsplash)

Technologies

Ethereum's Buterin Floats Prospect of Taking Some Layer-2 Functions Back on Main Chain

Vitalik Buterin, a member of the Ethereum Foundation's executive board, once pushed "layer-2" networks as a way to provide faster and cheaper transactions. Now he's got ideas for "enshrining" some of those functions on the main chain.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin (Bradley Keoun/modified by CoinDesk)

Technologies

Sam Altman Is Bringing Worldcoin's Controversial Eye-Scanning Orb to Reddit and Microsoft

World ID has added integrations with Shopify, Minecraft, and Reddit alongside a slew of developer-focused updates that could expand the OpenAI founder's blockchain-based "proof-of-personhood" service to more users.

Image of individual who looks like Sam Altman staring into orb

Technologies

Ethereum's 'Censorship' Problem Is Getting Worse

Four of the five biggest "block builders" on Ethereum are excluding transactions sanctioned by the U.S. government, data shows.

Builder censorship on Ethereum has more than tripled over the past 12 months. (Toni Wahrstätter/censorship.pics)

Technologies

Pyth Oracle Network Brings Industry Heavyweights Into Governance Post-Airdrop

The low-latency oracle network's new "strategic partners" include Castle Island Ventures, Multicoin Capital and Wintermute Ventures. They could play a major role in shaping how the platform evolves.

Lybra Finance launched its version 2 test network on Arbitrum Wednesday morning. (Getty Images)