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

Cryptodollar Minting Protocol M^0 Will Allow Institutions to Issue Stablecoins Backed by U.S. Treasuries

A kind of ‘money middleware for the digital age,’ the M^0 smart contract ruleset aims for institutional grade stablecoins that are decentralized and interoperable.

DeFi, T-bill, Yield, Paradigm

Finance

Multicoin Capital Is in Talks to Sell Roughly $100M FTX Bankruptcy Claim: Source

Positive news around the FTX bankruptcy has seen claims being sold for upward of 70 cents on the dollar, now climbing towards the eighties.

Multicoin Managing Partner Kyle Samani (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Tech

Hashnote's U.S. Treasuries Token Now Available Through Crypto Custodian Copper

Not all the so-called “on-chain treasuries” in the market are created equal, warns Hashnote CEO Leo Mizuhara.

DeFi, T-bill, Yield, Paradigm

Finance

Crypto Custodian BitGo Receives Investment From Iconic Cash Handling Firm Brink’s

Brink’s says it is continuing its growth in the evolving digital asset industry with the BitGo investment.

A Brink's armoured truck (Brink's)

Finance

Crypto Custody Specialist Taurus Brings Tokenized Securities to Retail Customers in Switzerland

Swiss financial regulator FINMA has approved Taurus’s TDX marketplace to offer blockchain-based shares in unlisted companies to retail investors.

From left to right: Lamine Brahimi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner; Dr. Jean-Philippe Aumasson, Co-Founder and CSO; Oren-Olivier Puder, Co-Founder and Chairman; Sébastien Dessimoz,  Co-Founder and Managing Partner (Taurus)

Finance

FTX Sold About $1B of Grayscale's Bitcoin ETF, Explaining Much of Outflow: Sources

BTC's price has fallen since bitcoin ETFs were approved. In theory, now that FTX is done selling its substantial holdings, the selling pressure could ease since a bankruptcy estate liquidating holdings is a relatively unique event.

FTX logo (Adobe Firefly)

Markets

BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Hits $1B AUM in One Week

IBIT’s holdings consist of 99% bitcoin, and nearly $60,000 in fiat, data shows.

BlackRock's corporate office in New York, New York. (Jim.henderson/Wikimedia Commons)

Finance

BlackRock Wants to Follow Bitcoin ETF With an Ethereum ETF. Marketing It Might Not Be So Simple

Larry Fink has been talking up a spot ether ETF, but index provider CF Benchmarks sees a conundrum when it comes to selling that product.

Larry Fink (Will Ess for Pixelmind.ai/CoinDesk)

Finance

OKX’s Middle East Business Wins Dubai Virtual Assets License

OKX Middle East Fintech FZE will be offering local currency trading pairs such as AED/BTC, AED/ETH, and more in the coming weeks, said OKX General Manager for MENA Region Rifad Mahasneh.

Dubai (Wael Hneini/Unsplash)

Finance

StarkWare CEO Uri Kolodny Steps Down Due to Family Health Issue

StarkWare president Eli Ben-Sasson will become CEO, and Kolodny will continue to serve on the StarkWare board of directors, the company said on Thursday.

StarkWare co-founders President Eli Ben-Sasson and CEO Uri Kolodny (StarkWare)