FTX secretly funded crypto news site The Block: report

Beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange FTX secretly funded media company The Block for over a year, with money being sent to the company's chief executive Michael McCaffrey, reported tech publication Axios on Friday.

The report said McCaffrey, who stepped down as the CEO of The Block, received two loans from Alameda Research - Sam Bankman-Fried's trading platform - of about $27 million to restructure his company. Another loan of $16 million, was used by the CEO to fund his property purchase in the Bahamas.

"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," Bobby Moran, The Block's chief revenue officer, said in a statement.


Moran also said that no one at The Block had any knowledge of this financial arrangement besides Mike.

"From our own experience, we have seen no evidence that Mike ever sought to improperly influence the newsroom or research teams, particularly in their coverage of SBF, FTX, and Alameda Research," his statement added.

The Block's editor Frank Chaparro said he was gutted with the news of McCaffrey's secret loans from Bankman-Fried.

"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," he tweeted.


"Had I known about this, I would have not only called it out and disputed his actions, but called for an immediate change in leadership. Putting aside the FTX meltdown, there is no excuse for his deception and disregard for the 160 people who work at The Block," he added.


Regulators around the globe, including in the Bahamas where FTX is based and in the United States, are investigating the role of FTX's top executives in the firm's stunning collapse, Reuters previously reported.

The crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy last month after a liquidity crisis that saw at least $1 billion of customer funds vanish.