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. Ian graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He holds ETH.

Recent

Big Time is ready for action (Big Time Studios)

Web3

Web3 Adventure Game Big Time Poised to Kickoff Its ‘Player-Owned Economy’

During the last year of beta testing, the crypto and NFT-focused game’s community has grown to over 350,000 people on Discord and over a quarter million on X (formerly Twitter).

By Ian Allison

Sep 22, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. UTC

Sep 22, 2023

Web3Big Time StudiosGameFi

Tether co-founder William Quigley (Magnetic)

Finance

Paypal

Tether Co-Founder Sizes Up PayPal’s Stablecoin Ambitions

Tether pioneer William Quigley, who was also an early investor in PayPal, said he doubts the payments giant will bring much innovation to the stablecoin space.

By Ian Allison

Sep 18, 2023 at 10:19 a.m. UTC

Sep 18, 2023

PayPalTetherWilliam QuigleyInterview

Finance

Deutsche bank

Deutsche Bank to Delve Into Crypto Custody, Tokenization With Taurus

Deutsche Bank will use Taurus’ custody and tokenization technology to manage cryptocurrencies, tokenized assets and digital assets.

By Ian Allison

Sep 14, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. UTC

Sep 14, 2023

Deutsche BankGermanySwitzerlandCustody ServicesTokenization

Finance

Fortress

Phishing Attack on Cloud Provider With Fortune 500 Clients Led to $15M Crypto Theft From Fortress Trust

CoinDesk has identified the vendor, previously blamed but not named by Fortress for the theft that helped spur the trust company's deal to sell itself to Ripple.

By Nikhilesh De Marc Hochstein Ian Allison

Sep 13, 2023 at 8:37 p.m. UTC

Sep 13, 2023

FortressRippleCustody

Digital Currency Group's Barry Silbert, right (Getty Images)

Finance

Genesis

Beleaguered Gemini Earn Customers Will Be Made ‘Nearly Whole,’ DCG and Genesis Say About Remuneration Plan

A filing on Wednesday states that if the assorted creditor groups vote through the proposed deal, then “Gemini Earn users are estimated to recover approximately 95-110% of their claims.”

By Ian Allison

Sep 13, 2023 at 12:07 p.m. UTC

Sep 13, 2023

GenesisDCGGeminiBankruptcy

HSBC at Canary Wharf, London (Danny Nelson)

Finance

Exclusive

Banking Powerhouse HSBC Working With Crypto Custody Firm Fireblocks: Sources

Fireblocks, which specializes in cryptocurrency safekeeping technologies such as multi-party computation (MPC), already works with BNY Mellon and BNP Paribas.

By Ian Allison

Sep 12, 2023 at 3:07 p.m. UTC

Sep 12, 2023

ExclusiveHSBCFireblocksCustody ServicesCustody

Finance

Venture capital

Dunhill Family Office Makes Bear Market Bet on Crypto

The family office is investing through its Dunhill Ventures subsidiary into Lichtenstein-regulated VC firm Mocha Ventures.

By Ian Allison

Sep 12, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. UTC

Sep 12, 2023

Venture CapitalDeFiPayment ChannelsFamily OfficesExclusive

Ben Whitby, Qredo’s head of strategic partnerships (Qredo)

Finance

Custody

Crypto Custody Firm Qredo Integrates Circle’s USDC Stablecoin

The new toolkit allows USDC to be the ultimate gas token on any blockchain.

By Ian Allison

Sep 12, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. UTC

Sep 12, 2023

CustodyQredoExclusive

Finoa founders Chris May (left) and Henrik Gebbing (Finoa)

Finance

Exclusive

BaFin-Licensed Crypto Custodian Finoa Will Offer Regulated DeFi

FinoaConnect provides the firm’s 300-plus institutional clients with wallet integration for a curated list of permissioned DeFi and Web3 platforms.

By Ian Allison

Sep 12, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. UTC

Sep 12, 2023

Exclusive

Finance

Fireblocks

Crypto Safekeeping Specialist Fireblocks Introduces Non-Custodial Wallet Service

The move will free up big fintechs from acting as custodians and makes it easier for their end users to access DeFi and other Web3 applications, Fireblocks said.

By Ian Allison

Sep 11, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. UTC

Sep 11, 2023

Fireblocksnon-custodial wallet