Crypto news platform The Block was secretly funded by FTX

It’s come to light that leading crypto news platform The Block was secretly funded by Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX for more than a year.

For a crypto news platform that led the industry with transparency and a fervent pursuit of truth and justice, this must be a bitter pill to swallow for the management and journalists who were not aware of secret loans channelled through SBF’s Alameda Research.

The Block CEO Michael McCaffrey has resigned from the company following the news and he has also stepped down from the board. Meanwhile the shock and disbelief continues to be exhibited on social media channels.

Frank Chaparro, Editor of The Block, was particularly scathing of the actions of McCaffrey, saying that he was gutted by the news.

1) I’m absolutely gutted by this news, which was briefed to the company this afternoon.

Underpinning my shock are feelings of utter disgust and betrayal by Mike’s actions, greed, lack of disclosure. He’s literal scum. He kept every single one of us in the dark. https://t.co/jIZCxtHrfc

— Frank Chaparro (@fintechfrank) December 9, 2022

Bobby Moran, the Chief Revenue Officer at The Block, published a Medium post on Friday announcing that he had assumed the role of CEO following McCaffrey’s resignation. He also expressed his disappointment at what had transpired.

“This news came as both a shock and disappointment to The Block leadership team. Mike’s decision to take out a loan from SBF and not disclose that information demonstrates a serious lack of judgment. It undermines The Block’s reputation and credibility, especially that of our reporters and researchers, as well as our efforts at industry-leading transparency.”

He added that neither he nor anyone else at The Block had any knowledge of the loan arrangement from Alameda and he maintained that he had seen no evidence that there was any bias in The Block’s reporting of SBF, FTX or Alameda.

Mike Dudas, co-founder and ex-CEO of The Block, was also shocked and offered a harsh criticism of McCaffrey’s dealings with Sam Bankman-Fried.

The Block’s new CEO Bobby Moran evidently knew about the $43m in SBF loans *before* Thanksgiving but told employees about it today?

McCaffrey never told me once that SBF was involved in any transaction related to The Block, nor did SBF.

These two sociopaths deserved each other.

— Mike Dudas (⛳️,🏆) (@mdudas) December 10, 2022

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