Who acquired CoinDesk?

Original author: Protos

Compiled by: Wu Says Blockchain

Currently, the most influential blockchain media in the English-speaking world, CoinDesk, was acquired by DCG for $500,000 in 2016, and its business revenue exceeded $50 million in 2022. In February of this year, due to the bankruptcy of Genesis, DCG sought to sell it for $200 million. On July 21, the WSJ reported that an investor consortium was in the final stages of a deal with cryptocurrency media company CoinDesk, with the shares being sold for approximately $125 million, valuing the total at over $200 million.

Here is the Chinese compilation of the Protos article

The Wall Street Journal reported that an investment consortium is about to finalize the acquisition of CoinDesk. This deal will value the most prolific cryptocurrency news company at $125 million (Note from Wu: The shares sold by CoinDesk are priced at approximately $125 million, not a valuation of $125 million). Matthew Roszak of Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes of Capital6 are the leaders of this investment consortium, while the identities of other members remain unknown.

Roszak and Vessenes have a long and complex history in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, dating back to Mt. Gox.

First, there is Vessenes. He served as the CEO of Coinlab; in fact, he was the broker and partner of Mt. Gox, acting as a conduit for North American investments from people like Roger Ver, Barry Silbert, and Tim Draper.

A series of lawsuits occurred between Mt. Gox and CoinLab, disputing which party violated which terms of their agreement—until Gox went bankrupt. Coinlab made a series of escalating claims in the bankruptcy proceedings, ultimately claiming that Gox owed it $16 billion in assets.

Vessenes and Roszak clashed during the Gox bankruptcy. Roszak collaborated with Brock Pierce, William Quigley, Jonathan Yantis, Louis Freeh, and John Betts in a venture called Sunlot Holdings, hoping to purchase and revive Mt. Gox.

Pierce later even described Vessenes's lawsuit as "nonsense."

"He claims that if the partnership with Mt. Gox had not been canceled, CoinLab would have turned into Coinbase, and thus he filed a lawsuit," Pierce said. "He believes Coinbase is worth $16 billion, so he should get $16 billion."

"He misappropriated funds from Mt. Gox, committed crimes, and attempted to extort creditors. He delayed the entire process, hoping for a huge return."

Notably, Pierce still hopes to revive Gox, while this lawsuit is delaying the bankruptcy proceedings.

Brock Pierce, William Quigley, and Jonathan Yantis later created a well-known stablecoin called RealCoin, more commonly known as Tether. Tether subsequently opened bank accounts at Noble Bank, which was created by Pierce and John Betts. They also received a memorandum from Louis Freeh at Freeh, Sporkin, & Sullivan, certifying the quality of its reserves.

Peter and Brock also collaborated at the Bitcoin Foundation, where Pierce was the chairman. However, he was ultimately forced to resign.

Roszak and Pierce continued to collaborate elsewhere, including at the short-lived Toronto incubator Bitcoin Decentral, which was advised by Stuart Hoegner. Hoegner is also the general counsel for Tether and Bitfinex.

More importantly, Matthew Roszak and Andrew "Flip" Filipowski jointly run Tally Capital and Silk Road Equity. Flip also managed Blue Rhino, and ultimately, due to insider trading in Blue Rhino's merger, Roszak had to settle with the SEC.

All of this leads me to say the following: they are not the right managers for CoinDesk.

CoinDesk's outstanding journalism has won numerous awards, often putting its team at odds with its parent company, DCG, whose leader Barry Silbert seems to be continuously engaged in… certain actions within DCG, Grayscale, and Genesis.

CoinDesk has also been willing to undertake years of legal efforts to increase Tether's transparency.

I am not sure if the new owners will support challenging journalism in the industry. One is attempting to sue a bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange for $15 billion; the other is a person accused of insider trading who cannot stop collaborating with Brock Pierce.

In response to this, DCG seems increasingly pessimistic about CoinDesk's future. Of course, some say that perhaps these investors want to support it out of a love for journalism.

Perhaps another option is even worse. Frankly, I just hope that CoinDesk's management does not get worse; I hope its many talented journalists and researchers can continue to freely strengthen this industry.