The Blockchain Group: receivership raises a number of questions

14.12.2023
The Blockchain Group: receivership raises a number of questions
Ask AI TO SUMMARIZE ThIS ARTICLE

At the beginning of December, The Blockchain Group, which is listed on the Paris Bourse (small caps), applied to the Nanterre court to be placed in receivership.

Your 2 free articles this month are up

The research your peers are already leveraging

The Big Whale gives financial institutions the market intelligence, network, and platform to move with confidence in digital assets. Trusted by 150+ firms.

It's a minor earthquake in the French crypto universe. At the beginning of December, The Blockchain Group, which is listed on the Paris Bourse (small caps), applied to the Nanterre court to be placed in receivership.

This procedure was applied for when the company had run out of cash and could therefore no longer operate. The company's debt exceeds €1 million. The listing has been suspended and the management has been replaced pending completion of the proceedings.

Fewly known to the general public, The Blockchain Group was born in 2018 from the ashes of Leadmedia. The company, which now has 200 employees with its subsidiaries, has grown through successive acquisitions with the purchase of several companies in the crypto universe, such as Iorga Group and BountySource in 2020, as well as Triman in 2021.

The Blockchain Group has also launched "in-house" companies such as Eniblock, which offers wallet-as-a-service solutions. Eniblock itself was floated on the stock market in September 2022.

Despite the increase in its turnover (just over €20 million in 2023), the company's expenses have continued to rise. "The management of The Blockchain Group has been very poor, to put it mildly", explains a person close to the company, pointing the finger at the former management and in particular its CEO Xavier Latil.

The alternatives now rotate between liquidation, asset disposals or takeover under certain conditions. According to our information, the preferred option is asset disposals. "The structure is still viable, we just need to clean house", explains an informed source. A clean-up that will take place well before spring.

Format
News
Raphaël Bloch

Raphaël Bloch is CEO and co-founder of The Big Whale, an independent market intelligence platform on digital assets serving financial market participants through editorial coverage, research, a weekly briefing, and in-person events. He co-founded The Big Whale in April 2022. At the platform, he moderates and hosts institutional events bringing together banks, asset managers, custodians, and infrastructure providers on topics including staking, on-chain yield, stablecoins, DeFi lending, and tokenisation. He has moderated panels at events hosted in partnership with Bitwise, Everstake, Gemini, Morpho, Hexarq, Coinhouse, Delubac, Franklin Templeton, and the Ethereum Foundation, held in London and Paris between late 2025 and mid-2026.

Before founding The Big Whale, Bloch worked as a reporter at Les Echos from December 2016 to March 2020, then at L'Express from March 2020 to March 2022. He also previously worked at Reuters. Since September 2022, he has held a concurrent role as Business Analyst at BFM Business. He has been active in crypto journalism since 2016. He holds degrees from emlyon and the CFJ.

See all articles ↗
Subscribe to The Drop
The leading weekly briefing on digital assets for financial institutions: independent analysis, reports, benchmarks and exclusive events, delivered to your inbox.
Read by 30,000 professionals
November 12–13, 2026

The Geneva Summit

The Corporate Gateway: where the future of onchain finance is decided. 300 handpicked decision-makers. One shared mandate.
300
Decision-makers
2 days
Intensive program