Leo Schwartz

Leo Schwartz is a former senior writer at Fortune, where he covered fintech, crypto, venture capital, and financial regulation; contributed to Term Sheet; and co-hosted the Fortune Crypto Playbook vodcast with Fortune Finance and Crypto Editor Jeff John Roberts. Leo previously worked at Rest of World, covering tech from Mexico City. His work has also appeared in the Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, and The Nation. He graduated with a dual master's in journalism and Latin American studies from New York University and a bachelor's from Columbia University.

  • Bulletpitch partners Brett Perlmutter and Felix Levine.Newsletters

    Inside the Gen Z Shark Tank where influencers are becoming venture investors

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  • Kraken’s new partnership with NASDAQ represents even more integration with the traditional financial system.Crypto

    Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi on why the crypto exchange’s new Fed master account access and NASDAQ partnership isn’t designed to ‘disrupt the banking system’

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  • The Binance logo on a smartphone arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. The New York State Department of Financial Services said it had directed Paxos Trust Co. to stop issuing new tokens of crypto’s third largest stablecoin, a Binance-branded coin known as BUSD that has roughly $16 billion in circulation. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesCrypto

    Inside the Binance accounts internal investigators say helped transfer more than $1 billion to Iran-linked entities: A 79-year-old VIP Chinese trader and a suspected Iranian gold smuggler

    By Leo Schwartz and Ben Weiss
  • NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 06: Vlad Tenev, Chairman & CEO of Robinhood Markets, (C) takes photos at the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on March 06, 2026 in New York City. Stocks continue to tumble with all three major indexes continuing to dip with the Dow Jones losing nearly 800 points at opening as oil prices raise due to concerns of the war with Iran and a weak jobs report release. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)Newsletters

    Robinhood wants everyone to be able to invest in hot startups like Databricks and Ramp, but how much risk will investors take on?

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  • SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 02: Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Chris Dixon speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019 at Moscone Convention Center on October 02, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)Crypto

    Exclusive: Venture giant a16z crypto targeting around $2 billion for its fifth fund amid blockchain market downturn, sources say

    By Ben Weiss and Leo Schwartz
  • Alfred Lin, partner at Sequoia Capital Operations LLC, during the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, June 22, 2023. The summit will focus on the rapidly changing social media landscape, the prospects for a continued regulatory crackdown on tech, and the future of cryptocurrencies. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesNewsletters

    Why Sequoia’s Alfred Lin isn’t worried about the SaaS-pocalypse

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  • Rowspace cofounders Michael Manapat and Yibo Ling.Startups & Venture

    Exclusive: AI financial platform Rowspace raises $50 million led by Sequoia to help investment firms take on messy data

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  • Photo of Sam Bankman-FriedCrypto

    Sam Bankman-Fried is waging a social media campaign for a pardon—but President Trump will not give him one, says the White House

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  • Cofounders Chris Hollod and Patrick Finnegan of Second Sight Ventures, which just closed a $75 million fund.Newsletters

    The 29-year old investor who went from selling fake IDs to backing Poppi raises a $75 million fund to invest in brands with a ‘cultural edge’

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  • Crypto

    Why influential Wintermute founder Evgeny Gaevoy thinks crypto has strayed from its cypherpunk roots

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  • Novig raised a $75 million Series B led by Pantera Capital.Banking

    Sports-focused prediction market Novig raises $75 million to challenge Kalshi and Polymarket

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  • Dragonfly is announcing its $650 million fourth fund.Newsletters

    Inside Dragonfly Capital’s $650 million fourth fund and its early bets on Polymarket and Rain

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  • Dragonfly is announcing its $650 million fourth fund.Crypto

    Exclusive: Crypto venture firm Dragonfly closes $650 million fourth fund—even as blockchain VCs face ‘mass extinction’

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  • The Binance logo on a smartphone arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. The New York State Department of Financial Services said it had directed Paxos Trust Co. to stop issuing new tokens of crypto’s third largest stablecoin, a Binance-branded coin known as BUSD that has roughly $16 billion in circulation. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesCrypto

    Exclusive: Binance fires top investigators who claim to have uncovered evidence of Iranian sanctions violations

    By Leo Schwartz and Ben Weiss
  • LayerZero announced its new blockchain on Tuesday.Crypto

    Citadel Securities and Cathie Wood back Zero, a new blockchain designed for traditional finance

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