CoinDesk Names Kevin Reynolds Editor-in-Chief

No matter what views people hold about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, there’s no denying the general public has an insatiable appetite for news and information about this field.

That’s why CoinDesk is building the leading global media platform for a rapidly growing digital asset industry, one that will be a vital information resource for all those engaged in the transformation of the global financial system that it portends.

To take that mission to the next level, we’re promoting Kevin Reynolds to the newly reconstituted role of Editor-in-Chief, where he’ll oversee our news, long-form and professional editorial content. A journalist with decades of experience building and running global news teams in fast-moving, high-stress environments and with an entrepreneurial instinct for finding and addressing new markets and audiences, Kevin is the ideal person to lead CoinDesk’s editorial coverage of this important story. Prior to this promotion, Kevin was CoinDesk’s Global News Editor.

Before joining CoinDesk last year, Kevin was at Bloomberg News for over 23 years, where he started, scaled and ran First Word, a 250-person global news/analysis service for professional clients. By the time Reynolds left Bloomberg, First Word had grown to be the most successful news product in company history, getting more client views than the much-larger Bloomberg News and winning two CEO awards.

Kevin also started Bloomberg’s Speed Desk, which Joe Weisenthal cited in Business Insider as a “mindblowing operation” that sends flash headlines on breaking news from press releases, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, websites and other media, as well as Bloomberg’s assignment desk. He turned around two other operations and started numerous others, including the training program that all Bloomberg News hires worldwide are required to take. He shares a patent for a CMS he helped design and is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Kevin enjoys the continued support of Executive Editor Marc Hochstein and Deputy Global News Editor Zack Seward, leading a two-pronged editorial mission.

As Executive Editor, Marc is leading the development of CoinDesk’s soon-to-be named online magazine of ideas, which will focus on long-form stories, investigative pieces, people profiles, Op-Eds and research, providing a resource for those looking for deeper dives into the many contentious issues facing this industry. Under Marc’s leadership, the new magazine will set the agenda for how this highly disruptive technology is incorporated into society, addressing the many challenges it poses to regulators, engineers, business leaders and the general public.

A former Editor-in-Chief at American Banker with more than 25 years in journalism, and now a four-year CoinDesk veteran, Marc will also continue to exercise autonomous authority as Executive Editor for ethics and standards. Journalists covering this field have an obligation to do so in as fair and impartial manner as possible and to seek to hold business leaders and policymakers to account over their commitment to principles of open access and the common interest in a technology that should be considered a “public good.” We are blessed to have a journalist of Marc’s experience and integrity overseeing CoinDesk’s commitment to this.

Zack will take responsibility for managing the global news staff, leading CoinDesk’s daily news meeting and helping to shape our daily, around-the-clock coverage of news in the crypto and related industries. He joined CoinDesk three years ago from Technical.ly, where he was Editor-in-Chief.

These changes within the editorial department give me an opportunity, as well, to call out the talented, experienced leaders heading CoinDesk’s other content departments.

Joanne Po is CoinDesk’s Head of Multimedia and Executive Producer. Her career includes senior leadership roles at Fox Digital, The Wall Street Journal and CNBC.

Emily Parker, who leads CoinDesk’s international expansion, is a former editor at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and a former member of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. State Department. She is the author of “Now I Know Who My Comrades Are” and a co-founder of the Asia-based crypto startup LongHash.

Pete Pachal, a former technology editor from Mashable who has been CoinDesk’s Executive Editor for Operations and Strategy will now take on a cross-content department role as Chief of Staff.

With token prices at all-time highs amid an explosion of innovation in decentralized finance (DeFi) that’s challenging the incumbent financial system, and with the non-fungible token (NFT) zeitgeist pointing to a new digital economic model, we are at what might be described as as “crypto moment.” I’m proud to have brought together this A-list team of media professionals so that CoinDesk can capture and explain all of its exciting elements.