Ian Allison

Ian Allison is a senior reporter at CoinDesk, focused on institutional and enterprise adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Prior to that, he covered fintech for the International Business Times in London and Newsweek online. He won the State Street Data and Innovation journalist of the year award in 2017, and was runner up the following year. He also earned CoinDesk an honourable mention in the 2020 SABEW Best in Business awards. His November 2022 FTX scoop, which brought down the exchange and its boss Sam Bankman-Fried, won a Polk award, Loeb award and New York Press Club award. Ian graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He holds ETH.

Ian Allison

Latest from Ian Allison


Finance

A Crypto Trading Clampdown Expands Beyond Binance to Another Large Exchange

The second-largest crypto exchange, OKX, asked key trading firms for more information about their clients, in what appears to be an effort to root out misuse of a VIP fee program.

Crypto exchanges are clamping down on fees. (Matt Artz/Unsplash)

Finance

Tether Taps Chainalysis Chief Economist Philip Gradwell as Economics Head

Gradwell will be responsible for quantifying the Tether economy to regulators.

Tether 's logo painted on a wooden background.

Finance

OKX Picks Malta Over France as Europe Hub to Comply With EU's MiCA Crypto Rules: Sources

OKX previously said in May 2023 that France would be its preferred European hub. "Compliance in Malta is way more lenient," said a person with direct knowledge of OKX's EU regulatory efforts.

Malta (Nick Fewings / Unsplash)

Finance

Fireblocks Adds First Clutch of Crypto Safekeeping Firms to Its Global Custodian Program

Zodia Custody, Komainu, CloudTech, Zerocap and Rakkar are the first five institutional-friendly crypto custody providers to join the Fireblocks Global Custodian Partner Program.

Fireblocks sign at Miami airport during Bitcoin Miami conference 2022 (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Finance

Tezos Foundation Teams Up With Baanx for Non-Custodial Crypto Card

Baanx has been working with Mastercard to deliver a range of non-custodial crypto card offerings.

Tezos logo. (Tezos)

Finance

Decentralized Crypto Exchange WOOFi Uses Gaming Style NFTs to Boost DeFi

So-called “Boosters” enhance the yield from WOO tokens, which are staked to earn a share of the DEX’s fees.

Yield Booster NFTs (WOOFi)

Finance

Standard Chartered-Backed Zodia Custody Partners with Crypto Lending Firm Maple Finance

Under the agreement, collateral pledged to Maple Finance will be securely held by Zodia Custody

Sid Powell, CEO of Maple Finance (Maple Finance)

Finance

Ethereum Builder Consensys Buys Wallet Guard to Strengthen MetaMask Security

Consensys has been active in the acquisition trail, last year buying blockchain microstructure designer Special Mechanisms Group and blockchain notifications service HAL, and wallet firm MyCrypto in 2022.

Joe Lubin, Founder and CEO of Consensys, MetaMask's developer, speaks at Consensus 2024 by CoinDesk. (Shutterstock/CoinDesk/Suzanne Cordiero)

Finance

Worldcoin Hires Former Google, X and Apple Execs to Beef Up Privacy, Security

Tools for Humanity (TFH), a contributor to the Worldcoin project, hired four executives to advance its mission to ensure a more just economic system, the company said on Tuesday.

An inside view of the Orb, Worldcoin's custom hardware that makes cryptographic IDs based on iris scans. (Worldcoin)

Finance

Circle Snags First Stablecoin License Under EU's New MiCA Crypto Rules

Circle Mint France will issue the euro-denominated EURC stablecoin and USDC in the European Union in compliance with MiCA.

Circle Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte (left) and CEO Jeremy Allaire (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)