The leadership of The Block, a well-known cryptocurrency and blockchain news website, is changing, with Larry Cermak succeeding Bobby Moran as CEO. The action was taken as a result of reports that the platform had been supported by loans from Alameda Research by the former CEO, Mike McCaffrey.
In an effort to stabilize the business after the contentious loans it got from former FTX and Alameda Research founder SBF, Moran, who was serving as temporary CEO, was laid off along with around one-third of the personnel.
In December 2022, Moran disclosed that McCaffrey had restructured the platform in 2021 using two loans from Alameda totaling $27 million. McCaffrey was forced to leave as CEO as a result of not telling The Block’s executive team about the loans. Despite the platform’s financial ties, Cermak, who had been vice president of research at The Block for almost five years, claimed that McCaffrey had never instructed him to cover articles regarding FTX or Bankman-Fried “in any particular way.”
The Block adds disclaimer on articles regarding financial ties to FTX
Editor-at-large of The Block Frank Chaparro hailed Cermak’s selection as CEO, saying it represented a “return to our crypto native roots” for the platform. According to Cermak, the platform would be realigning its personnel and changing its strategy to reflect the realities of the current market. According to the firm, “We developed too quickly to benefit from the cryptocurrency bull market. Our approach must now be adjusted, and our teams must be recalibrated to reflect the realities of the current market.”
Many news sources, MPs, and organizations have revealed financial ties to the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange or specifically to Bankman-Fried since FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 11.
The company’s leadership declared its intention to recoup all political contributions in February, and in March it revealed that a research team had found there had been almost $25 million as of November 2022. An explanation of the SBF loans is now present in every news article on The Block’s website.
