Sam Kessler

Deputy Managing Editor

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.

Latest from Sam Kessler

Finance

Ethereum Could Get Kicked Off Cloud Host That Powers 10% of Crypto Network

Hetzner, which hosts roughly 10% of Ethereum nodes, says it does not allow mining or anything “even remotely related,” including staking.

Aug 26, 2022

Tech

The Graph Adds Gnosis Chain to Its Decentralized Blockchain Indexing Protocol

Gnosis Chain is the first chain after Ethereum to gain support on The Graph’s decentralized network, which will soon replace The Graph’s centralized “hosted” service.

Aug 25, 2022

Tech

Ethereum Proof-of-Work Forks: Gift or Grift?

Ethereum will soon transition to a more energy-efficient system for processing transactions, but prominent crypto personalities are hell-bent on keeping the proof-of-work version of the chain alive. Why?

Aug 24, 2022

Why are some miners hell-bent on keeping Ethereum's proof-of-work chain alive? (Getty Images)

Tech

As Censorship on Ethereum Begins, Could This Open-Sourced Code Help Counter It?

Flashbots' accelerated code release comes amid U.S. regulatory crackdown on crypto mixer Tornado Cash for sanctions violations.

Aug 23, 2022

Tech

'Don't Say Terra' and Other Reflections From Korea's Crypto Extravaganza

A string of conferences in Seoul explored the future of DeFi, but the $40 billion blowup of a major Korean project was not on the agenda.

Aug 17, 2022

According to former employees, "Terra" was the unofficial beer of Terraform Labs. (Sam Kessler/CoinDesk)

Tech

Tornado Cash Fallout: Can Ethereum Be Censored?

In light of OFAC’s Tornado Cash sanctions, Ethereum's community debates what to do if validators censor sanctioned addresses.

Aug 17, 2022

Markets

Solana Wallets Targeted in Latest Multimillion-Dollar Hack

Over 8,000 internet-connected "hot" wallets have been compromised so far, but the source of the attack remains unknown.

Aug 3, 2022

Solana Hacker House en Miami, abril del 2022. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Tech

Crypto Bridge Nomad Drained of Nearly $200M in Exploit

The exploit calls the security of cross-chain token bridges into question once again.

Aug 2, 2022

Nomad fue drenado por completo el lunes después de presentarse como una alternativa "segura" a otros puente cross-chain. (Source: DefiLlama).

Tech

Ethereum’s Rollup Race: What is a ‘True’ zkEVM?

The ZK rollup race between Ethereum layer 2s Scroll, Polygon and Matter Labs may come down to definitions.

Jul 27, 2022

(Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment/Getty Images)

Layer 2

Failed Crypto Lender Cred Blames Its Demise on Uphold Exchange in Suit

The 2022 meltdown is not the first time the risks of “centralized DeFi” products have been laid bare.

Jul 22, 2022

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