Crypto: Sam Bankman-Fried outlines his ideas on regulation

Mike McCaffrey has announced that he is stepping down as CEO of news site The Block. In a Twitter thread, he admits to having secretly received $27 million in investments from the infamous Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). New CEO Bobby Moran said there was no evidence that Mike McCaffrey inappropriately influenced coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX or Alameda Research on the news site.

How is The Block doing?

The Block was founded in 2018 as a cryptocurrency news outlet. According to an interview McCaffrey gave to Fortune, in 2019 the medium generated several million in revenue. Additionally, the outlet has raised over $4 million. This fundraising took place notably with Greycroft, Pantera, BlockTower Capital and Bloomberg Beta. In 2020, The Block bought out its non-employee shareholders, including its investors and co-founders. McCaffrey became the outlet’s new CEO. Moreover, the CEO would have had no influence on the editorial team.

Bobby Moran announced he would take over as CEO following the resignation of Mike McCaffrey, who reportedly funded the platform with loans from Alameda Research. In a Dec. 9 announcement, Mr. Moran said Mr. McCaffrey had made the executive decision to restructure The Block in 2021, which involved two loans totaling $27 million from Alameda Research – a fund speculum part of former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Group. The Axios site reported that there was also a third $16 million loan in 2022 that McCaffrey used to buy property in the Bahamas.

Substantial investments by SBF

McCaffrey revealed that the publication he has led as CEO since 2020 has received two major investments from SBF, ex-CEO of FTX. In 2021, a tranche of $12 million arrived, and in early 2022 another $15 million was received, according to a tweet from McCaffrey:

Tweet from Mike McCaffrey – Ex CEO of

The now ex-CEO also admitted that no one within the crypto outlet was aware of the situation. The founder of The Block called this situation the worst personal betrayal of his entire life.

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