Nikhilesh De

Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, covering regulators, lawmakers and institutions. He owns < $50 in BTC and < $20 in ETH. He won a Gerald Loeb award in the beat reporting category as part of CoinDesk's blockbuster FTX coverage in 2023, and was named the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers' Journalist of the Year in 2020.

Nikhilesh De

Latest from Nikhilesh De


Finance

World Cup fever: Chiliz expands to Solana and Base to supercharge fan token trading

Chiliz rolled out its own layer-1 network in 2023 to host the trading of its tokens, but is transitioning to what it calls "omnichain distribution."

16:9 Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus in Singapore during Token2049 (Amitoj Singh/CoinDesk)

Policy

Polymarket reportedly seeking CFTC approval to reopen main exchange to U.S. traders

If approved, the move would help Polymarket compete with Kalshi in the U.S., and bring more event-trading activity under CFTC regulatory oversight.

CoinDesk

Markets

Riot extends $200 million Coinbase credit facility, and bitcoin weakness could mean more sales

The miner locked in fixed borrowing costs and extended maturity, but a shrinking BTC treasury and loan-to-value triggers leave little room for error if prices slide.

Riot Platforms’ acquisition of Block Mining makes sense, JPMorgan says. (Sandali Handagama)

Finance

Microsoft says legacy banks are hitting a breaking point as AI takes over the heavy lifting

Microsoft and Chainalysis executives warned that as AI agents begin managing transactions at scale, the financial industry must overhaul its legacy infrastructure to prioritize machine identity and trust.

CoinDesk

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Policy

CFTC's AI will review U.S. crypto registration applications, chairman tells CoinDesk

The regulator is working on new technology to stretch abilities of reduced staff, says Chairman Mike Selig, including AI monitoring of trading data.

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Finance

Western Union eyeing stablecoin launch to settle global transactions without SWIFT, CEO says

The 175-year-old money-transfer firm also plans to issue a stablecoin-linked card for payments and cash-out options from crypto to local currencies, CEO Devin McGranahan said.

A Western Union sign above a shop. (Shutterstock)

Policy

Running out of time on Clarity: State of Crypto

April is almost over. May is the month to watch.

U.S. Capitol Building (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

Finance

Why DeFi isn't dead despite massive exploits and $13 billion investor exodus

A $292 million exploit and $13 billion TVL drop looks catastrophic on the surface, but the data tells a different story.

DeFi is battered and bruised, but not dead (Unsplash)

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Finance

Freezing 5.6 million dormant bitcoin could trigger ‘worst’ single-day repricing

Maximalists warn freezing 5.6M BTC risks instant sell-offs, while others say quantum threats leave no alternative.

Heading of Bitcoin Whitepaper

Tech

Crypto is built for AI agents, not humans, says Alchemy's CEO

Alchemy CEO Nikil Viswanathan argues the global financial system was designed for humans, but the next wave of commerce will be driven by AI agents that operate natively in crypto.

(Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images)