Battle of the crypto trade media hots up

By Ian Silvera

The competition between the cryptocurrency trade media is on the rise as some of the most prominent outlets covering the industry day-to-day are poaching top talent from established organisations and expanding their offerings.

A point in case is Sarah Kopit’s appointment as Editor-in-Chief at The Block. Before her move to the New York-based outlet, Kopit spent more than 13 years at Bloomberg, most recently as its social media czar.

The Block, which bills itself as a “leading global information services brand”, is reportedly planning to grow to more than 120 employees according to Insider, up from around 35 at the start of 2021.

The outlet provides 24/7 news on the cryptocurrency industry across seven time zones, offering up a research portal, newsletters and podcasts. Its clients apparently include major financial services companies, including Goldman Sachs, PayPal, Stripe and some sovereign wealth funds.

It is up against stiff competition in the shape of CoinDesk, Decrypt, CoinTelegraph and Blockworks. The outlet, which was also founded in 2018 and describes itself in similar terms as a “financial media brand”, hired Dan Keeler, a former Frontier Markets Editor at The Wall Street Journal, as Editor-in-Chief last year.

Decrypt, meanwhile, hired Daniel Roberts from Yahoo Finance, alongside executive editor, Jeff John Roberts (formerly of Fortune) and publisher and chief revenue officer, Alanna Roazzi-Laforet (ex-Interactive Advertising Bureau) in February last year.

CoinDesk, however, is arguably still the top dog in the space. The outlet launched in 2013, giving it a considerable head start on its competition. It has since steadily increased its workforce, coverage and general editorial offering. CoinDesk TV launched in February 2021, in a move that saw CoinDesk become the Bloomberg or CNBC of the cryptocurrency media world.

The powers that be at Bloomberg have clearly taken note, debuting Bloomberg Crypto earlier this month. Elsewhere, the FT has its own ambitious commercial, events and editorial plans for the digital assets space, while the Wall Street Journal is producing more and more content, including videos, articles and podcasts, on the sector.