Margaux Nijkerk
Margaux Nijkerk covers decentralized finance with a protocol-first lens, tracking how changes in core networks like Ethereum and Solana shape the products traders and everyday users actually touch. She is a DeFi reporter at CoinDesk, with a brief that centers on the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems and the bridges between on-chain infrastructure and live markets. Her work follows technical upgrades, staking dynamics and new application layers through to their impact on exchanges, wallets and emerging tools such as AI-powered trading agents.
Ethereum, staking and core protocol changes
Nijkerk’s coverage of Ethereum is continuous and granular, reflecting her previous role on CoinDesk’s Tech & Protocols team and ongoing focus on the protocol itself and its surrounding layer-2 landscape. She has written pieces that look closely at Ethereum staking in the aftermath of the Merge, examining validator behavior, yields and the health of the network rather than treating staking as a generic yield product. Across articles and segments, she returns to themes such as decentralization, governance and the risks of treating those concepts as slogans rather than lived practice, using network milestones and community debates as the frame.
She frequently reports on core Ethereum developments and ecosystem anniversaries, using them to explain where the protocol has succeeded, where it is constrained, and how scaling work through layer-2s fits into that story. Headlines on topics such as Ethereum turning ten or public warnings from key Ethereum figures about the state of decentralization show her tendency to pair news hooks with structural analysis of the ecosystem.
When she writes about Ethereum, the emphasis is on the machinery of the network - upgrades, client diversity, staking and restaking, and the infrastructure that underpins DeFi - rather than price action.
Layer-2 networks, Solana and DeFi infrastructure
Nijkerk extends that protocol focus to layer-2 networks and adjacent chains, treating them as part of a single scaling and liquidity system rather than as isolated projects. She has covered layer-2 launches and airdrops, such as Eclipse’s token rollout, using those moments to explain how new rollups and L2s route activity back to Ethereum and what they mean for users and builders.
Her reporting on tools that let developers build stablecoin applications on platforms like Celestia shows the same infrastructure-first approach, drilling into what these app layers enable rather than just who funded them.
On Solana, her work follows the chain’s role as a high-throughput base for consumer-facing projects and networks.
She has written about the Helium decentralized wireless network built on Solana, focusing on how the technical design supports real-world connectivity and token incentives. Across these stories, Nijkerk treats alternative chains and app-specific networks as parts of a broader DeFi and infrastructure map, connecting protocol design choices to end-user experiences in lending, trading, payments and data.
News, explainers and The Protocol newsletter
Nijkerk does not confine herself to protocol deep-dives; she also writes straight news and explainers on products and features that sit on top of that infrastructure. Her article on Coinbase’s launch of AI agent accounts is a clean example: she lays out how the agents can trade and spend on a user’s behalf, what guardrails exist, and how this fits into the ongoing automation of crypto trading and account management. Similar pieces on tokenization, real-world assets and major stablecoin and exchange updates show her interest in the ways DeFi technology is packaged for broader audiences.
She brings that same style to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly tech-focused newsletter and podcast, which she hosts. In that format she curates and explains the most important developments in cryptocurrency tech each week, from new layer-2 launches to protocol debates and security incidents. Episodes and editions with titles centered on Ethereum’s whispered concerns, the influence of crypto personalities, or experimental systems like Bitcoin-based Runes highlight her range across ecosystems while keeping the focus on how the technology works and why it matters.
Her output combines timely news, accessible technical explanation and a consistent attention to the long-term structure of the crypto tech stack.
4 more crypto journalists.
Alex Dovbnya
Alex Dovbnya is a staff writer at U.Today who covers the pressure points where crypto markets, regulation and security risk meet, with a focus on institutional fund flows and major infrastructure failures. He writes as both a trader and journalist, producing clear, data-led stories that track how digital assets move, break and get governed. Under the byline Alex Dovbnya and the alias AlexMorris, he has authored more than a thousand pieces for U.Today, CryptoComes and other fintech outlets. His work centers on XRP ETFs and institutional capital flows, crypto legislation and U.S. policy fights, large-scale security breaches and infrastructure risk, and market sentiment in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Across these strands he relies on precise on-chain, ETF and sentiment metrics, treating regulation, hacks and macro commentary as market catalysts rather than occasions for personality-driven coverage.
Alex McMurray
Alex McMurray is a technology and fintech journalist at eFinancialCareers who focuses on the people behind change in finance. He covers crypto leadership, digital asset firms, AI teams, software development, quantitative investing, high frequency trading and technology hiring. His reporting links job titles, skills, reporting lines and compensation to wider shifts in business models and organisational strategy. He has written about JPMorgan’s crypto lab, senior moves between banks and crypto firms, HSBC’s shift from operations to technology, fintech hiring, engineering and quant careers, diversity programmes, university routes into fintech, and banking executives who build startups. He also covers Python and C++ in trading, machine learning specialists and unconventional pay structures. Writing for eFinancialCareers since 2022 and in his current role since 2024, he produces short and long-form stories for specialist audiences, driven by exclusive information, confidential tips and career-focused angles.
Andrew Hayward
Andrew Hayward links crypto markets reporting with Web3 culture and gaming, using two decades in the tech and games press to give his beat a clear business-first lens. He most recently served as managing editor at Decrypt, after earlier roles there as culture editor, hub operations lead, and senior writer, and he now pursues new editorial leadership and content management roles while remaining open to freelance work. His coverage spans news, features, educational explainers, and interviews on crypto, NFTs, AI, gaming, and broader tech trends. He focuses on how listed firms and miners manage Bitcoin treasuries, balance sheets, refinancing, and risk, and how crypto tools and tokens show up in everyday gaming and digital life. He also reviews laptops and hardware for Tom’s Guide and has written on games and technology for more than 100 publications since 2006.
André Beganski
André Beganski covers the business side of cryptocurrency, focusing on how digital asset markets connect to traditional finance, regulation, and tax policy. He is a journalist at Decrypt. His core beat is how professional investors and major financial institutions interpret and move crypto markets. He writes often about Bitcoin and other major tokens, price cycles, analyst calls, and institutional sentiment. His work ties market moves to decisions made by banks, exchanges, and lawmakers, with attention to liquidity, trading costs, and structural pressures. He reports on U.S. legislative efforts that would reshape how digital assets are taxed and reported, and on policy debates as material market factors. He also writes across the wider crypto and blockchain landscape, including altcoins, Ethereum, NFTs, platforms such as Coinbase and FTX, and the legal regimes that govern them.