Jon Southurst is Associate Editor, Asia-Pacific at CoinGeek, the BSV blockchain news publication. Based in Tokyo, Japan, he covers Bitcoin and blockchain technology, artificial intelligence and agentic AI, and the digital economy — including stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and asset tokenization — with particular attention to developments across Asia.

Jon has worked as a technology writer since 1994, beginning with geographic information systems (GIS), digital mapping, and statistical data for Australian telecommunications company Telstra, and technology articles for print newspapers in Australia and Canada.

He turned to Bitcoin full-time in 2013 as a reporter for CoinDesk, remaining there until 2015. Based in Tokyo during the collapse of the Mt. Gox exchange in 2014, he covered the story at close quarters and produced several now-iconic images from that period of Bitcoin’s history. He went on to report for Bitcoin.com and Bitcoinist (2015–16), then co-founded Bitsonline, serving as Senior Editor from 2016 to 2019. He joined CoinGeek in 2019.

Alongside his writing, Jon has presented and hosted video interview programs including BitcoinSVtrain and MetaNetTV on YouTube, and CoinGeek’s “The Bitcoin Bridge.” His interview subjects over more than a decade of reporting include venture capitalist Tim Draper, economist Steve Keen, entrepreneurs Halsey Minor and Michael Terpin, Lyn Ulbricht, Roger Ver, Craig Wright, and musician Perry Farrell.

His CoinGeek article marking the anniversary of Bitcoin’s Genesis Block from January 2020 was cited in “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” a digital assets report published by the White House in 2025.

Jon has reported from blockchain and finance conferences around the world, including Beijing, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, Tbilisi, Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Denver. He has appeared as a presenter and panelist at conferences in Seoul (2014) and Changsha (2016), and served as a panel moderator at the London Blockchain Conference in 2023 and 2024.

His areas of expertise include Bitcoin and blockchain systems, digital currencies, central banking and financial regulation, and the intersection of artificial intelligence with blockchain and digital payments. His current reporting focuses on BSV software and application development, agentic AI, and the emerging digital economy.

Article by Jon Southurst

How to stay optimistic in Bitcoin’s ‘slow times’: The Bitcoin Bridge gets wisdom from Kurt Wuckert Jr
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22 March, 2021

How to stay optimistic in Bitcoin’s ‘slow times’: The Bitcoin Bridge gets wisdom from Kurt Wuckert Jr

The latest show is a chat with CoinGeek's Chief Bitcoin Historian, Kurt Wuckert Jr.—known as much for his prolific social...
How we created Haste: Interview with co-founder Joe DePinto
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22 March, 2021

How we created Haste: Interview with co-founder Joe DePinto

Like so many other useful Bitcoin apps that started to become available again, Haste grew from the notion that small,...
Coinbase gets $6.5 million penalty from CFTC over in-house trading issues
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22 March, 2021

Coinbase gets $6.5 million penalty from CFTC over in-house trading issues

The charges, which the CFTC filed and settled on the same day, were for "reckless false, misleading or inaccurate reporting"...
Crypto Regulation Masterclass: Risk-based approach to digital assets necessary for compliance officers
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19 March, 2021

Crypto Regulation Masterclass: Risk-based approach to digital assets necessary for compliance officers

Compliance officers at financial institutions feel they still have a low understanding of digital assets, blockchain, and their surrounding legal...
Bitcoin as a computer: ‘Theory of Bitcoin: Bitcoin Class’ looks at matrix operations, logic and microprocessors
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18 March, 2021

Bitcoin as a computer: ‘Theory of Bitcoin: Bitcoin Class’ looks at matrix operations, logic and microprocessors

The Bitcoin Class series is about thinking bigger—much bigger—about what Bitcoin can do, and what sort of system it really...
Two Hop Ventures marks €1M in BSV startup funding with two new deals in 2021
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18 March, 2021

Two Hop Ventures marks €1M in BSV startup funding with two new deals in 2021

Two Hop Ventures launched in November 2019 with a mission to assist startups that leveraged BSV's technological advantages.