Cointelegraph

Cointelegraph was founded in 2013 as an independent digital media resource covering blockchain technology, digital assets, AI, NFTs, and fintech. Its content includes news, in-depth analysis, cryptocurrency prices, opinion pieces, and the social transformation driven by digital currencies.⁠[1][1]

In February 2020, Jon Rice, a co-founder of Crypto Briefing, joined Cointelegraph as managing editor for its magazine, and went on to build and launch the long-form publication Cointelegraph Magazine.⁠[2][2][3][4]

In September 2020, editor-in-chief Jay Cassano became CEO, and Jon Rice succeeded him as editor-in-chief. Cassano had joined Cointelegraph in 2019 and was previously an investigative journalist.⁠[2][2]

In July 2022, Cointelegraph’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) franchise was acquired by Luna Media Corporation to fund global and regional expansion. The deal was announced by Luna PR, a Dubai-based blockchain public relations and marketing agency whose founder and CEO is Nikita Sachdev. Cointelegraph MENA publishes in English and Arabic, covering news and technological developments in the region.⁠[5][6][6][6]

On January 10, 2023, Cointelegraph launched the Cointelegraph Accelerator, an accelerator program for Web3 startups focusing on decentralized finance, NFTs, GameFi, Web3 social, cross-chain, and layer 2. The program is run by a commercial arm independent of the editorial team and supports selected projects with media products such as advertorials, individually tailored special projects, and educational materials, in exchange for the projects’ native tokens or equity. It had onboarded over a dozen companies at launch. At the time, the Cointelegraph team had over 150 professionals publishing media products in 11 languages.⁠[7][7][7][7][7][7][7]

On October 16, 2023, Cointelegraph’s social media team posted on X, without editorial approval, that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had approved BlackRock’s iShares spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF); the report was false. According to its internal investigation, the lead came from an unconfirmed screenshot posted by an X user who claimed it was from the Bloomberg Terminal. Staff saw the rumor in a Telegram channel and passed it to an internal Slack channel, and another employee, trying to publish as quickly as possible, posted it at 13:24 UTC (9:24 a.m. New York time) without the editor confirming the source, violating the process of verifying the source and obtaining editorial approval before posting.⁠[8][8][8][8][8][9]

After the post went out, the price of Bitcoin rose about 6% within 15 minutes, approaching $30,000, and other major cryptocurrencies followed. BlackRock then said its application was still under review by the SEC, and prices quickly fell back, returning to about $28,000 by the end of the day. Nearly $79 million in short positions were liquidated in the hours after the tweet.⁠[10][10][9][10][9][10]

After readers raised the problem on social media, Cointelegraph edited the post to say the information was unconfirmed at 13:54 UTC, contacted BlackRock and the Bloomberg Terminal and removed the post at 14:03, and at 14:32, after BlackRock confirmed the report was incorrect, retracted it and apologized on X. That day, Cointelegraph published a clarification to readers saying that it had not published an article with the incorrect information, but that it deeply regretted posting it in error on X and the impact it caused, and pledged a thorough review of its social media processes. The same day, the SEC’s official X account reminded the public: “The best source of information about the SEC is the SEC.”⁠[8][8][8][11][8][8][12]

On June 23, 2025, a front-end exploit allowed a fraudulent pop-up to be placed on the Cointelegraph website. Falsely claiming to offer “CoinTelegraph ICO Airdrops” and “CTG tokens,” it used nearly $5,500 worth of non-existent tokens as bait to get users to connect their crypto wallets and enter personal information. The security firm Scam Sniffer flagged that day that its front end had been compromised; Cointelegraph then posted a warning on X urging users not to click the pop-ups, connect wallets, or enter personal information, and said it was working on a fix.⁠[5][13][14][15][15][15]

On August 26, 2025, Cointelegraph announced that Jon Rice had once again taken on the role of editor-in-chief. Between his two stints, Rice had served as editor-in-chief of Blockworks. Then-CEO Yana Prikhodchenko welcomed his return; after taking office, Rice promoted head of editorial Geraint Price to deputy editor-in-chief. Rice noted at the time that the company had created a number of ancillary businesses, including Decentralization Guardians and the Formula agency. As of October 2026, Rice was no longer editor-in-chief.⁠[3][3][3][3][3][4]

In October 2025, Google issued a manual penalty against the Cointelegraph website, causing it to disappear from Google’s search results; its organic traffic fell by about 80%.⁠[5]

An analysis published by the crypto news site The Holy Coins on November 13, 2025, said that, according to estimates from Ahrefs and Semrush, Cointelegraph’s organic search traffic dropped sharply from around October 6, 2025, with the two tools putting the decline at about 98% and 65% respectively, and that a direct Google search for “Cointelegraph” no longer listed the website among the top results. Because the drop began more than two weeks after Google’s spam update ended on September 21, the article said it looked more like a manual penalty, while noting that Google had not publicly confirmed taking such an action.⁠[16][16][16][16]

The article also noted that in December 2024, the SEO specialist Timothy Malmros had written that Cointelegraph’s online gambling (iGaming) section might be operated by a third party, potentially constituting “site reputation abuse,” that is, hosting third-party content to exploit a site’s earned search authority; according to Internet Archive records, Cointelegraph removed its entire iGaming section after the traffic decline. This connection is an outside inference, and neither whether Google applied a manual penalty to the site nor the reason for it has been publicly confirmed.⁠[16][16][17][17]

Cointelegraph’s editorial policy, last updated on April 7, 2026, states that it does not publish or permit editorial coverage of gambling, casino, or iGaming-related topics, including betting platforms, wagering services, casino products, and gambling affiliates.⁠[18][18]

On October 7, 2026, CoinDeskCoinDeskCoinDesk is a cryptocurrency media, events, index, and data company founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York. Its businesses include the CoinDesk news website, the annual crypto industry conference Consensus, and the CoinDesk Indices index business. In November 2023, the digital asset exchange Bullish acquired CoinDesk from Digital Currency Group, and CoinDesk has since operated as an independent subsidiary of Bullish.Open the full entry, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter, reported that Cointelegraph was looking for a buyer, without disclosing the asking price. The article also said that a prolonged period of depressed crypto prices had shifted reader attention away from crypto news, affecting several digital asset newsrooms. According to SimilarwebSimilarwebSimilarweb Ltd. is a digital data and analytics company headquartered in Givatayim, Israel, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It estimates visits to and usage of websites and apps worldwide, providing subscription software, data APIs, and advisory services to businesses, investment firms, and developers of AI products.Open the full entry data, the Cointelegraph website had more than 12 million monthly visits in December 2024, falling to just above 700,000 as of September 1, 2026.⁠[5][5][5][5][5]

In that article, CoinDesk cited the October 2025 Google penalty as having heavily affected Cointelegraph’s fortunes and mentioned the earlier front-end exploit of its website in June 2025. In a commentary on October 8, the crypto news site Coin Insider said that for a publisher that depends on search to reach readers, losing visibility in Google results removes the main channel through which many readers find its articles, and that advertising revenue at news sites generally tracks traffic volume, although Cointelegraph has not disclosed its financial results.⁠[5][5][19][19]

On October 8, 2026, Cointelegraph publicly responded on X to CoinDesk’s publisher and editorial leadership, saying “We are not for sale” and that the article was based on false information and contained multiple factual errors.⁠[20][20]

Cointelegraph’s websites, language editions, mobile apps, and digital services are owned and operated by Cointelegraph Media Group entities. The newsroom operates across news, markets, features, learning, and multimedia, with team members based in more than 50 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Israel, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates. According to its LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry page, it has more than 200 employees.⁠[21][21][1][1][5]

As of October 2026, in addition to news, markets, Magazine, research, podcasts, and newsletters, the Cointelegraph website listed ecosystem businesses including Formula, Accelerator, Decentralization Guardians, events (including the LONGITUDE event), and CT Connect.⁠[1]

According to its advertising disclosure page, Cointelegraph generates revenue through paid content and partnerships, which help fund its newsroom and platform operations; partners and sponsors undergo a verification process, paid content is labeled, and affiliate links may appear in both informational and commercial content.⁠[22][22][22]

Cointelegraph: Official website: https://cointelegraph.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

X: Public account: https://x.com/Cointelegraph (opens in a new window)⁠[23]

LinkedIn: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cointelegraph/ (opens in a new window)⁠[23]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRqBu-grVX1p97WaX4d-OuQ (opens in a new window)⁠[23]