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

Latest from Sam Kessler


Policy

After GOP Debate, Blockchain Bettors See Ramaswamy as Most Formidable Trump Challenger

Betting lines didn’t change much as a result of Wednesday’s debate, but the Bitcoin-friendly entrepreneur has edged out Florida governor Ron DeSantis this past week in the GOP’s race for second place.

Vivek Ramaswamy co-founded Strive Asset Management (Frederick Munawa)

Tech

Curve Crisis Shows Pitfalls of Decentralized Risk Management

Top DeFi lenders allowed a crypto CEO to take a risky bet, raising key questions about how they manage risk.

Stani Kulechov, Lens founder, at Consensus 2019 (CoinDesk archive)

Policy

Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to Latest Indictment

Bankman-Fried's attorney later deplored Bankman-Fried's lack of vegan options in prison, saying he was "subsisting on a diet of bread and water" during the hearing.

Sam Bankman-Fried outside a courthouse in July 2023. (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

Tech

Sei, Blockchain Designed for Trading, Goes Live but 'Frustration' Mounts Over Airdrop

The buzzy blockchain project's SEI token saw a flurry of trading as it debuted on several crypto exchanges, but there was much confusion over the status of a promised token "airdrop" to early adopters of the network.

Sei Labs co-founder Jay Jog (CoinDesk TV)

Tech

VC Firm a16z Wades Into Crypto Tech Research with ZK Projects ‘Jolt’ and ‘Lasso’

A pair of open-source projects co-written by venture giant Andreessen Horowitz, known as a16z, aim to improve the performance of systems that use zero-knowledge technology – a cryptographic method used to scale blockchains.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, California (Haotian Zheng/Unsplash)

Tech

Fireblocks Discloses ‘Zero Day’ Vulnerabilities Impacting Leading MPC Wallets

It’s unlikely users were impacted by the vulnerabilities – collectively referred to as “BitForge” – but Fireblocks says they could’ve let hackers “drain funds from the wallets of millions of retail and institutional customers in seconds” if left unfixed.

(Kevin Ku/Unsplash)

Tech

As Curve Averts DeFi Death Spiral, Fiasco Exposes Serious Risks

Curve, a leading decentralized exchange on Ethereum, was hacked for more than $70 million in July. Questions continue to linger around the platform's long-term viability and potential contagion risk.

It was almost a dead man's Curve. (Unsplash)

Tech

Matter Labs Accuses Polygon of Spreading "Untrue Claims" With Code-Copying Allegations

In a blog post, Polygon alleged that Matter Labs copied its open-source code without providing attribution. Matter Labs said the code was "prominently attributed."

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Markets

Curve Founder’s $168M Stash Is Under Stress, Creating a Risk for DeFi as a Whole

Curve CEO Michael Egorov pledged 34% of CRV’s total market cap to back loans across DeFi protocols. A forced liquidation would result in selling at a time when prices are already falling.

Curve Finance's Michael Egorov (Michael Egorov, modified by CoinDesk)

Finance

Curve Finance Drained of $50M While CRV Token Sinks 12% in Latest DeFi Exploit

More than $100M-worth of cryptocurrency could be at risk due to a bug impacting Curve, a stablecoin exchange at the center of Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem.

(Tim Arterbury/Unsplash)