Singapore-based fund takes majority stake in media firm once backed by Bankman-Fried loan
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In 2021, the then CEO of crypto media firm The Block secretly accepted three different loans from FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, Alameda Research.
PHOTO: REUTERS
New York – In yet another example of how crypto is moving on from failed exchange FTX, a Singapore-based investor is taking a majority stake in crypto news publication The Block after a succession of leadership changes.
The Block had been seeking to rid itself of any remaining association with a former chief executive who had accepted clandestine loans from FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, Alameda Research.
Foresight Ventures acquired a majority stake in The Block in a deal with that former executive, Mr Michael McCaffrey, according to representatives of both the fund and the media company.
Foresight Ventures is a digital asset-focused venture capital firm based in Singapore that has deployed around US$70 million (S$95 million) across both crypto and non-crypto projects so far in 2023, and some US$200 million since the fund’s inception. Foresight entered into the transaction with Mr McCaffrey directly.
This deal is worth more than US$50 million, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing the details of a transaction that had not yet been made public.
In 2021, Mr McCaffrey secretly accepted three different loans totalling US$43 million from Alameda Research, according to The Block’s own reporting published after FTX collapsed.
Mr McCaffrey used some of the borrowed money to buy out other investors in The Block, and to “provide working capital” directly to the crypto news site, according to a statement published at the time.
In a statement posted after the loans became public, Mr McCaffrey said that no one at the media company had known about the arrangement.
It is not clear whether Mr McCaffrey will use the proceeds from the Foresight Ventures deal to repay the loans to the estate of the now-collapsed hedge fund, or what the status is of those loans. Representatives of the FTX estate did respond to a request for comment. Mr McCaffrey declined to comment.
Mr Forest Bai, CEO of Foresight Ventures, will join The Block as chairman of its board. General partner Tony Cheng will also join the board, according to The Block’s current CEO Larry Cermak.
The crypto media firm’s previous association with Bankman-Fried “doesn’t really bother me”, Mr Bai told Bloomberg News in a written response. “I’m not hung up on their past.” BLOOMBERG
