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

‘Crypto’ is dead—long live the digital transaction era
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11 March, 2020

‘Crypto’ is dead—long live the digital transaction era

As we move into an era where Bitcoin will begin to power the digital economy, it's time to let go...
BCH begins developer purge, but can’t solve viability problem
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9 March, 2020

BCH begins developer purge, but can’t solve viability problem

The bitter acrimony over the mining tax plan continues, threatening to split the community at a time when BCH is...
Digitex exchange flouts regulations in hopes it won’t be noticed
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9 March, 2020

Digitex exchange flouts regulations in hopes it won’t be noticed

Digitex's show of defiance against international financial laws may be bold, but the conditions that allowed many platforms to fly...
BCH mining tax looks dead, but funding problems remain
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5 March, 2020

BCH mining tax looks dead, but funding problems remain

Jiang Zhuoer, who had re-introduced the idea to BCH, said he would use his personally-owned hashrate to vote against the...
Steemit community revolts against Justin Sun
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5 March, 2020

Steemit community revolts against Justin Sun

The brouhaha reflects other famous instances in cryptocurrency history where users and communities have rebelled against protocol developers.
Scam alert: The fake ‘Bitcoin Genesis’ chain split and coin claim
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3 March, 2020

Scam alert: The fake ‘Bitcoin Genesis’ chain split and coin claim

The scam article was published on Medium on February 7, a few days after the hard fork that activated Bitcoin...