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

Ethereum’s Buterin Expresses Concerns Over Sam Altman’s Worldcoin

Worldcoin’s identity system, “Proof-of-Personhood,” faces issues with privacy, accessibility, centralization, and security, according to Buterin.

Vitalik Buterin shares a new blog post on Ethereum's roadmap to address scaling, privacy, and wallet security. (CoinDesk)

Technologies

XRP Blockchain Still Faces Centralization Caveats as Ripple Regulatory Threat Recedes

Ripple scored a partial win against the SEC last week in a summary judgment that was celebrated across the crypto industry. Why does the project itself remain so controversial?

Ripple CTO David Schwartz in 2021. (CoinDesk TV)

Technologies

Code Wallet Aims for Fresh Start on Solana After Messy Tale of Kik and KIN

The minimalist payment app is built around the cryptocurrency KIN, which forced its creator – the messaging app Kik – to pay a $5 million fine to the SEC following a $100 million ICO.

Ted Livingston speaks at Kin Ambassadors event in NYC April 2018. Photo by Brady Dale for CoinDesk.

Technologies

Arkham CEO Defends ‘DOX-to-Earn’ Program, Says Public Blockchains ‘Worst’ for Privacy

“Publicly available blockchains are probably the worst possible way of keeping one’s private information private,” said Arkham CEO Miguel Morel.

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic is offering a new tool that can track crypto flows across and between all blockchains simultaneously. (brightstars/Getty Images)

Technologies

MetaMask Developer ConsenSys Brings Layer 2 Blockchain ‘Linea’ to Ethereum Mainnet

The rollup chain from ConsenSys, known as a zkEVM, joins a growing field of projects aiming to expand access to Ethereum using zero-knowledge cryptography.

ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin speaks at ETHDenver 2022 (Chet Strange/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Technologies

Chainlink ‘Proof of Reserve’ Proves Little Beyond Data Going In, Coming Out

Projects like TrueUSD and Paxos are turning to Chainlink to give users transparency into their reserves, but their numbers remain difficult to verify.

Chainlink CEO Sergey Nazarov (Chainlink Labs)

Technologies

Ethereum’s Layer 2 Teams Want You to Clone Their Code

By making their code open source and easy to replicate, projects including Arbitrum, Optimism and zkSync are making it easier for copycat blockchains to steal away their users – in pursuit of broader ecosystems of related networks.

Projects competing to become the dominant "layer 2" network atop Ethereum are now competing to become networks of networks. (Unsplash)

Technologies

Uniswap's Hayden Adams: Q&A on Weathering the Regulatory Storm, What’s Next for DeFi

After the recent release of a proposal for a new "v4" version of the decentralized exchange Uniswap, CoinDesk's Sam Kessler chats with Uniswap Labs CEO Hayden Adams about the case that DeFi is “here to stay” and his position that the U.S. “lags behind” on crypto regulation.

Hayden Adams, CEO of Uniswap Labs. (LinkedIn)

Coindesk News

Flashbots Confirms Top Strategy Researcher Obadia to Depart Amid ‘Strategic’ Hiring Push

Obadia cited personal reasons for his departure but warned of "serious challenges" for Flashbots in a letter posted to Twitter.

Hiring pitches were everywhere. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Technologies

EigenLayer’s Restaking Smart Contracts Reach Max Limit on Same Day as Mainnet Launch, Pulling in $16M

Notable depositor into EigenLayer’s pools includes one address that deployed the U.S.-sanctioned Tornado Cash money mixing tool.

Full fuel gauge icon (M-A-U/Getty)