Crypto news publication The Block announced today that its CEO, Michael McCaffrey, has resigned after failing to disclose a series of loans from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s company Alameda Research. Axios first reported the news.
The capital was used in part to finance an employee-led buyout of the company, among other more extracurricular activities.
McCaffrey will be replaced by the company’s chief revenue officer, Bobby Moran, effective immediately, according to a statement. “No one at The Block had any knowledge of this financial arrangement besides Mike,” Moran wrote.
McCaffrey confirmed that in a series of tweets Friday: “I didn’t disclose the loan to anyone. Absolutely no one at The Block knew about the financial arrangement between my holding company and SBF, including the editorial and the research teams.” He claimed his rationale for this decision was to not “compromise the objectivity” of coverage surrounding SBF.
The Block was founded in 2018 by Mike Dudas. In 2020, McCaffrey took over as CEO. By April 2021, McCaffrey led a buyout of all of The Block investors, making the firm owned by employees, with McCaffrey as the biggest stakeholder. Even today, he remains the company’s majority shareholder.
Dudas told …
