​​How BlockFi Went From Tech Unicorn to Crypto Burnout Just 1 | Crypto Sale

​​How BlockFi Went From Tech Unicorn to Crypto Burnout

Just 12 months ago, BlockFi was going places.

The crypto lender went down as one of the most rapidly growing startups in the industry amid a roaring bull market and a slew of outrageous valuations in 2021, raising hundreds of millions of dollars from blue-chip financiers including Bain Capital, Tiger Capital and Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.

It seemed, for some time, nothing could slow CEO Zac Prince’s meteoric rise. And few could have predicted what was to come: a sudden $250 million dollar bailout in June, orchestrated at the eleventh hour by Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX.

The essence of what went wrong, and why, hold crucial lessons not only for BlockFi, but for all cryptocurrency firms navigating the ups and downs of a market cycle, sources told Blockworks. In Prince’s case, his company’s near-collapse can be traced at least as far back as last year, when a series of critical — and sometimes questionable — management decisions left the lender on shaky ground.