Crypto news site The Block shakes off SBF ties with Foresight Ventures deal
The Block, a crypto-focused media company, sold a majority stake of its company to a venture capital firm in Singapore, according to Axios, which has valued it at $70 million.
Foresight Ventures, the firm behind the deal, is buying an 80% stake for $60 million. The venture capital (VC) firm says The Block will continue operations as an independent business.
The media company’s CEO, Larry Cermak, is the second-largest shareholder in the company, while Foresight CEO Forest Bai will become chairman, with partner Tony Cheng taking a board seat. Cermak posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the company is getting a “fresh start.”
1/ Big news today as we announce Foresight Ventures acquired a majority stake in The Block. This tx gives The Block a fresh start ahead of the bull market and provides us with more capital to build out new exciting products and expand our footprint into Asia and the Middle East. https://t.co/1ohnptiKwQ
Regarding the deal, Cheng says that the focus will be to help companies bring in more users from Asia.
This deal allows The Block to distance itself from the FTX scandal after the company’s ties to the defunct exchange came to light as its former CEO Mike McCaffrey, the majority shareholder, had been discovered to have taken loans worth millions of dollars from Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX.
Cointelegraph has reached out to Foresight Ventures for further comment on the deal.
Related: OpenSea lays off 50% of staff with severance in preparation for version 2.0 launch
The VC firm agreed to spend an undisclosed amount on ads with The Block during the first year. Most of the capital was reportedly used to purchase the stake previously held by McCaffrey, with the rest going toward a
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