Crypto News Site The Block Drops SBF Connection From Forrest Ventures Deal
Crypto-focused media company Bloc has sold a majority stake in the company to a Singapore-based venture capital firm, Axios reported.
Forsyth Ventures, the company behind the deal, is buying an 80% stake for $60 million. The venture capital (VC) firm said Block will continue to operate as an independent business.
The media company's CEO, Larry Cermak, is the second-largest shareholder in the company, while Foresight's CEO, Forrest Bye, is chairman, and partner Tony Cheng holds a board seat. Cermak announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the company is getting a “new start.”
1/ Big news today is when we announce that Foresight Ventures has acquired a majority stake in Block. This tx gives us a fresh start for the block before the bull market and provides us with additional capital to build new exciting products and expand our footprint into Asia and the Middle East. https://t.co/1ohnptiKwQ
— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) November 13, 2023
Regarding the deal, Cheng said the focus is to help companies bring in more users from Asia.
“We are seeing significant regulatory openness in this part of the world. We are seeing huge capital inflows into this region.
The deal allows The Block to distance itself from the FTX scandal, which broke when the company's ties to the exchange broke when former CEO Mike McCaffrey, the majority shareholder, took out millions of dollars in loans from Sam Bankman-Fried. , founder and former CEO of FTX.
Cointelegraph reached out to Foresight Ventures for additional comment on the deal.
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The VC firm has agreed to spend an undisclosed amount with The Block in its first year. Most of the capital was used to buy back the stock previously held by McCaffrey, while the rest was used for a change of control clause.
Foresight has a stake in several Asian crypto media organizations such as Block Temp and Foresight News, both for Mandarin-speaking audiences, and in Korean-language publication CoinNess.
The company believes that The Block will help it grow during the ongoing bear market, which has seen many companies in the crypto space shed a significant portion of their staff. In March, The Block reportedly laid off nearly 33% of its employees.
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