The Block reportedly laid off roughly 33% of its staff including
interim CEO Bobby Moran in an effort to stabilize the platform following
loans it received from Sam Bankman-Fried.
Larry Cermak, vice president of research at The Block, has announced
that he will be taking the reins at the crypto and blockchain news
website from interim chief executive officer Bobby Moran — the second
change in leadership since reports surfaced that former CEO Mike
McCaffrey financed the platform through loans from Alameda Research.
In a March 31 tweet, Cermak said he would be stepping up as CEO after roughly five years at the crypto news site. Axios also reported
that The Block laid off roughly 33% of its staff — including Moran — in
an effort to stabilize the platform following the controversial loans
it received from former FTX and Alameda Research founder Sam
Bankman-Fried.
"We are not immune to the contraction of the crypto
market, and the economy more broadly," the company reportedly said. "We
grew too quickly to capitalize on a bull market in crypto. Now, we must
shift our strategy and recalibrate our teams to align with the reality
of the current market."
In December 2022, Moran revealed that McCaffrey had used two loans totaling $27 million
from Alameda in 2021 in his efforts to restructure the crypto news
site. McCaffrey failed to disclose the loans to The Block’s leadership
team, a move which led to his resignation as CEO. The Block’s
editor-at-large Frank Chaparro, who previously referred to McCaffrey as
“literal scum” who betrayed the platform’s staff, lauded Cermak’s advancement to CEO, saying the site was “returning to our crypto native roots”.
Cermak
reportedly said he had received no direction from McCaffrey to cover
stories about FTX or Bankman-Fried “in any particular way,” despite the
platform’s financial ties. All of the news stories on the website
include a disclaimer with details about the loans from SBF.
Related: FTX presentation shows ‘massive shortfall’ in firm’s assets
Since
FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 11, many news outlets,
lawmakers, and organizations reported financials ties to the defunct
crypto exchange or directly to Bankman-Fried. The firm’s leadership
announced in February that it planned to recover all political donations, reporting in March a research team had determined there had been roughly $25 million as of November 2022.
Magazine: Can you trust crypto exchanges after the collapse of FTX?
