Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO, Digital Currency Group
Anjali Sundaram CNBC
Crypto trade publication CoinDesk explores potential sales, hires advisors Lazard to consider a move that will remove from Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group.
“Over the last few months, we have received many inbound indications of interest in CoinDesk,” CEO Kevin Worth said in an emailed statement. The Wall Street Journal first reported the media company’s hiring for Lazard.
CoinDesk, which opened in 2013, first broke the story of potential balance sheet improprieties at Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research. The reporting led to a downward spiral at crypto exchange FTX, which ultimately led to the company’s collapse in November, the arrest of Bankman-Fried and multiple regulatory probes.
The contagion of the FTX meltdown hit CoinDesk’s sister company Genesis, a crypto lender also owned by DCG that hired counsel for possible bankruptcy after freezing withdrawals and loan originations. Genesis is also the subject of SEC charges along with crypto exchange Gemini.
Worth said Lazard will help CoinDesk “explore various options to attract growth capital for CoinDesk’s business, which may include a partial or full sale.”
A DCG representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
WATCH: The SEC charged Genesis with selling unregistered securities
