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


Tech

The Protocol: Is Solana's Rebound The Real Thing?

Solana has been one of the biggest gainers of the latest crypto cycle, with a handful of airdrops and meme tokens accelerating big boosts in the price of SOL. Also, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has released an updated roadmap for the ecosystem.

(Vultar Bahr/Unsplash)

Tech

Lido Tests of 'Distributed Validator Technology' Portend 2024 Decentralization Push

A big selling point of blockchain networks is that they are "decentralized." But just a few validators, including those run by Lido, have gradually amassed a lion's share of the power over the dominant smat-contracts blockchain, Ethereum. One idea is to decentralize the validators themselves.

"Validators are single-engine planes. If a validator goes down, it's offline," said Brett Li, head of growth at Obol Labs. (Daniel Eledut/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)

Finance

Ledger Exploit Drained $484K, Upended DeFi; Former Staffer Linked to Malicious Code

Security firm Blockaid's CEO told CoinDesk that users are still at risk.

Hacker (Towfiqu Barbhuiya/Unsplash)

Tech

Ethereum's Buterin Floats Prospect of Taking Some Layer-2 Functions Back on Main Chain

Vitalik Buterin, a member of the Ethereum Foundation's executive board, once pushed "layer-2" networks as a way to provide faster and cheaper transactions. Now he's got ideas for "enshrining" some of those functions on the main chain.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin (Bradley Keoun/modified by CoinDesk)

Tech

Sam Altman Is Bringing Worldcoin's Controversial Eye-Scanning Orb to Reddit and Microsoft

World ID has added integrations with Shopify, Minecraft, and Reddit alongside a slew of developer-focused updates that could expand the OpenAI founder's blockchain-based "proof-of-personhood" service to more users.

Image of individual who looks like Sam Altman staring into orb