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

Crypto Custody Firm Cordial Systems Names Jump Crypto as Client as It Exits Stealth

Cordial Treasury gives all the software to the customer, not just a bit of a cryptographic key.

(Pixabay)

Finance

Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon and Others Test Enterprise Blockchain for Tokenized Assets

The Canton pilot allowed 15 asset managers, 13 banks, four custodians and three exchanges to seamlessly transact and settle tokenized assets.

Goldman Sachs logo (CoinDesk archives)

Finance

Grayscale Plans Low-Fee GBTC Spinoff: the Bitcoin Mini Trust

Bitcoin ETF manager Grayscale is seeking permission from the SEC to spin out a percentage of GBTC shares to seed the new Bitcoin Mini Trust product, according to a filing on Tuesday.

Grayscale ad (Grayscale)

Finance

With Mastercard, MetaMask Tests First Blockchain-Powered Payment Card

Issued by Baanx, the card would let users spend their crypto "on everyday purchases, everywhere cards are accepted," according to marketing materials CoinDesk reviewed.

MetaMask test image (MetaMask)

Finance

BlackRock Plans to Acquire Spot Bitcoin ETPs for Its Global Allocation Fund

Thursday's filing with the SEC, follows an update earlier this week to add bitcoin ETPs to BlackRock's $36.7B AUM Strategic Income Opportunities Fund.

(Jim Henderson, modified by CoinDesk)

Finance

DCG's Barry Silbert Pitched Genesis-Gemini Merger in a Drastic Bid to Save the Lender in 2022

Silbert’s motion to dismiss the New York Attorney General’s $3 billion lawsuit contains emails from around the time 3AC failed and the Genesis and Gemini loans business began to seize up.

DCG CEO Barry Silbert (CoinDesk archives)

Finance

Fireblocks Prepares for Bull Market by Adding New Executive After New CFO Hire

Chief marketing officer Michal Ferguson joins from cybersecurity platform Snyk, following the appointment of new CFO Michael Levine, and chief customer officer Madan Gadde.

Fireblocks chief marketing officer Michal Ferguson (Fireblocks)

Finance

Digital Currency Group Files for Dismissal of New York Attorney General’s Lawsuit

The crypto firm's boss, Barry Silbert, also filed a motion to dismiss the Attorney General’s accusation that he concealed losses at the firms and so cheated customers and investors.

Barry Silbert. CEO & Founder Digital Currency Group (DCG)

Finance

Bitcoin ETF Giant Grayscale Introduces a Crypto Staking Fund

The Grayscale Dynamic Income Fund initially includes APT, TIA, CBETH, ATOM, NEAR, OSMO, DOT, SEI and SOL.

Michael Sonnenshein (CoinDesk)

Finance

Osprey Bitcoin Trust Looking for a Buyer or Possible Merger with Bitcoin ETF

The company said that if this process is unsuccessful, it "intends to liquidate and dissolve the Trust within 180 days from today."

An osprey (Jongsun Lee/Unsplash)