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When CoinDesk<\/em> published<\/a> a suspicious balance sheet of Sam Bankman-Fried\u2019s trading firm in November of 2022, it set off a chain of events that would upend every corner of the crypto industry\u2014including its own.<\/p>\n The ensuing bear market hurt the longtime trade publication\u2019s parent company, Digital Currency Group, leading to layoffs<\/a> of nearly 50% of CoinDesk<\/em>\u2018s editorial team and for DCG put the outfit up for sale. One media report suggested<\/a> that DCG, which had purchased the publication for only $500,000 in 2016, could fetch as much as $300 million from the sale, but, as with so many things in the crypto world, that figure reflected a wide gulf between aspiration and reality.<\/p>\n In November, DCG completed<\/a> an all-cash deal with the digital asset exchange Bullish. The sale price was in the range of $70 million to $80 million, according to a person familiar with the deal. (The Block<\/em>, a competitor, sold<\/a> to the Singapore-based Foresight Ventures in November 2023 at a valuation of $70 million.)<\/p>\n Now, as a slimmed-down CoinDesk <\/em>enters its new ownership era, the respected crypto publication hopes to maintain editorial independence while finding stability in a volatile industry. Whether this will come to pass depends on its new owner, whose values are untested and whose business strategy is unclear.<\/p>\n \u201cSo far, it\u2019s cautious optimism,\u201d said one CoinDesk<\/em> staffer, who spoke with Fortune<\/em> on the condition of anonymity. <\/p>\n The collapse of crypto markets in late 2022 exposed the tension of Digital Currency Group\u2019s relationship with its portfolio publication. CoinDesk<\/em> not only helped precipitate DCG\u2019s financial troubles but continued to report on the ensuing lawsuits and bankruptcies that plagued<\/a> owner Barry Silbert\u2019s empire. <\/p>\n Bullish will inherit the same complicated relationship. Led by former New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley, Bullish is backed by investors including Peter Thiel\u2019s Founders Fund, though it lacks the market presence of competitors like Coinbase<\/a> and Binance. According to CoinMarketCap<\/a>, Bullish is the 89th-largest exchange by trading volume and unavailable to U.S.-based users.<\/p>\n Launched in 2021, Bullish was the latest venture for a flailing crypto company called Block.one. Cofounded and led by a crypto entrepreneur named Brendan Blumer, Block.one created a blockchain called EOS in June 2018, raising over $4 billion\u2014an incredible sum even during the manic era of \u201cinitial coin offerings\u201d\u2014in the largest-ever<\/a> offering of its kind. <\/p>\n While Block.one marketed EOS as a competitor to Ethereum, the platform suffered from congestion<\/a> issues and critiques<\/a> of centralization. In 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered<\/a> Block.one to pay a $24 million penalty as part of a settlement for its unregistered initial coin offering\u2014an arrangement that many in the crypto industry viewed as favorable given the SEC\u2019s subsequent enforcement actions<\/a>. Today, EOS is the 32nd-largest blockchain by total value locked, according to CoinMarketCap<\/a>. <\/p>\n Bullish represented a new attempt at legitimacy for Block.one, seeding the exchange with liquidity from its EOS proceeds and planning to take the company public through a special purpose acquisition company. Bullish called off<\/a> the deal, which had proposed to value the transaction at $9 billion, in 2022. <\/p>\n Given Bullish\u2019s checkered history, its purchase of CoinDesk<\/em> raised questions about whether the exchange would honor the publication\u2019s commitment to reporting. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal<\/em> following the deal, Farley said<\/a> Bullish was willing to invest \u201ca lot of money\u201d in CoinDesk<\/em> and that the outlet would operate as an independent subsidiary.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Bullish announced<\/a> a restructuring of CoinDesk<\/em>\u2018s leadership team, despite initially claiming<\/a> it would stay in place. Longtime CEO Kevin Worth and several other executives were forced out, and former Bullish business development head Sara Stratoberdha was appointed CEO. It will be her first foray into media after working at financial firms including Blackstone<\/a> and Credit Suisse.<\/p>\n \u201cCoinDesk<\/em> will remain an independent subsidiary of Bullish Group and Sara is committed to maintaining CoinDesk<\/em>\u2018s journalistic independence and integrity,\u201d a CoinDesk<\/em> spokesperson said in a statement shared with Fortune<\/em>.<\/p>\n On Friday, Bullish held a town hall with CoinDesk<\/em> employees to explain the changes, with Stratoberdha answering questions from both the editorial and business sides of the publication. The CoinDesk<\/em> staffer said the shakeup was expected due to the publication\u2019s struggling revenue figures and last year\u2019s layoffs. \u201cThere\u2019s not going to be a lot of tears shed,\u201d the staffer said about the restructuring. <\/p>\n The main concern for editorial staff is whether Bullish will allow CoinDesk<\/em> to maintain its independence. The staffer said that the retention of key staff, including editor-in-chief Kevin Reynolds, was a positive sign, adding: \u201cI do generally think it\u2019s probably a little too early to start putting dirt on our graves yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nWho is Bullish?<\/h2>\n
A new leaf<\/h2>\n