Focus Areas
Crypto
Journalism
Fintech
Journalism
Background
Iliana has been covering the crypto and fintech industry since the NFT boom in 2021. Throughout her career, Iliana reported on key crypto events, including Ethereum’s Merge, the FTX scandal, and regulatory developments. Before joining Defi Rate in 2026, she wrote for a number of publications in the crypto space, with bylines at CryptoNews, Techopedia, and Capital.com.
Iliana holds a Bachelor’s in Journalism from City St. George’s, University of London, and a Master’s in Communication from Gothenburg University.
When she’s not working, Iliana enjoys taking photos and experimenting with crochet projects, although she does tend to spend a lot of her free time on crypto Twitter looking for scoops.
Experience
2021
Recent Articles
Prediction Market Reports
Experts say the growing interest from institutional players and fintech platforms is a sign that prediction markets are becoming a legitimate financial product category, not just a niche curiosity.
June 23, 2026
Crypto
CME Group sued the CFTC over its approval of crypto perpetual futures, arguing the contracts should be regulated as swaps. DeFi Rate spoke with John Lothian, a media executive and commodity trading veteran, about why he believes the agency got the classification wrong, and why he thinks the real fix has to come from Congress, not the courts.
June 20, 2026
Crypto
The House Ways and Means Committee held its first digital asset tax hearing in years, debating seven Republican-led bills on crypto taxation, but the session revealed as many fault lines as it did solutions.
June 10, 2026
Crypto
Cycles raised $6.4 million to build privacy-preserving clearing infrastructure for crypto markets, built on the case that stablecoins alone can't solve the industry's liquidity problem.
June 4, 2026
Crypto
The CFTC's approval of Bitcoin perps on Kalshi opens US traders to crypto's dominant instrument. Former agency counsel Peter Sanchez Guarda says the legal theory behind it has never been tested.
June 3, 2026