• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The pig in the python: Baby Boomers are strangling the economy they built by refusing to move or retire

2

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

3

The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure

1

The pig in the python: Baby Boomers are strangling the economy they built by refusing to move or retire

2

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

3

The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure
FinanceBitcoin

Bitcoin bull market sparks boom in crypto news media

Jeff John Roberts
By
Jeff John Roberts
Jeff John Roberts
Editor, Finance and Crypto
Down Arrow Button Icon
Jeff John Roberts
By
Jeff John Roberts
Jeff John Roberts
Editor, Finance and Crypto
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 18, 2021, 9:55 AM ET

Our mission to make business better is fueled by readers like you. To enjoy unlimited access to our journalism, subscribe today.

Since launching in 2018, a Brooklyn firm called Blockworks has pulled off a rare feat in the battered media industry: Building a profitable, independent company. The firm found success by building a podcast network that caters to the cryptocurrency world, featuring shows like the “Pomp Podcast,” hosted by a popular startup entrepreneur.

Now the Blockworks founders, Jason Yanowitz and Michael Ippolito, are doubling down on their media ambitions with an eponymous news site they describe as “Bloomberg meets Morning Brew.” The pair sees a convergence between the traditional world of Wall Street and the upstart fintech and crypto industries—and believes they can build an audience at that intersection.

“We identified an institutional niche where there’s a lack of quality information on these topics,” said Ippolito, citing how the CEO of security firm Microstrategy—which last year bought $250 million in Bitcoin for its corporate treasury—resorted to showing his board YouTube videos to explain his crypto plans.

Blockworks is just the latest arrival in the increasingly crowded field of crypto media. The site joins The Block, which offers a mix of news and research aimed at institutional investors, and Decrypt, whose coverage includes the emerging crypto field of “decentralized finance” or DeFi.

The presence of these news sites has meant the coverage of the current crypto boom (or bubble, if you prefer) is different than earlier ones. In the past, two early trade publications, Coindesk and CoinTelegraph, covered the ins and outs of the industry alongside a handful of bloggers—including Ryan Selkis (aka Two-Bit Idiot) who went on to found another crypto media and research firm, Messari.

Ben Schiller, a managing editor at Coindesk, notes another difference from previous booms in that there has been less hype in the mainstream press about crypto. This has been the case even as Bitcoin prices smash records, and as banks and corporations have embraced it like never before.

According to Schiller, the current boom means there’s room for the various publications to carve out different niches for themselves. But he adds that some will fold or get acquired if they’re unable to establish solid business foundations in the coming years.

Schiller knows this firsthand. For more than a year, he helmed a short-lived crypto publication called Breaker Magazine that shut down abruptly in 2019. Despite publishing several lauded investigative pieces, Breaker never found a business strategy to complement its reporting.

The founders of Blockworks, which made a modest profit on $3.5 million of revenue last year, believe they have found a viable strategy by focusing on producing media and information content for businesses.

“I agree the media industry is broadly fraught, but there’s pockets doing quite well. We found an unsexy but profitable niche in B2B,” said Ippolito, who adds Blockworks will initially support its five-person editorial team by selling ads, but is exploring other revenue streams.

While Blockworks believes it’s hits on a successful strategy, the perils of launching a media business are great as ever. The pandemic has largely wiped out the live-events industry, which had become a key revenue pillar for media companies of all stripes. While media outlets have reinvented many of their events as virtual ones, the earnings from ticket sales and sponsorships are paltry in comparison, and many would-be attendees are experiencing Zoom fatigue.

Then there are social media platforms, which have gobbled most of the ad revenue that used to flow to news companies. Schiller notes that crypto media companies have to compete with these platforms not only for money, but for clout and attention.

He points out that many influential figures in crypto—echoing a trend in the broader tech industry—are reluctant to use media outlets as intermediaries, preferring instead to speak to the public directly on platforms like Twitter and Medium.

In the face of such challenges, the best hope for some of the smaller players may be to get absorbed into the financial media empires of Bloomberg or the Wall Street Journal. But Lara O’Reilly, an editor who covers the media industry at Business Insider, notes that the big companies may prefer to poach the talent of the crypto minnows rather than pay to acquire them outright.

O’Reilly added that the smaller companies could be appealing targets to big B2B publishers looking for new verticals, or finding a way forward by banding together.

“It’s probably likely some of the smaller crypto media companies will merge, particularly if they serve slightly different audiences and don’t share too many of the same advertisers,” she said in an email to Fortune.

About the Author
Jeff John Roberts
By Jeff John RobertsEditor, Finance and Crypto
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jeff John Roberts is the Finance and Crypto editor at Fortune, overseeing coverage of the blockchain and how technology is changing finance.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

Current refi mortgage rates report for May 25, 2026
Personal FinanceReal Estate
Current refi mortgage rates report for May 25, 2026
By Glen Luke FlanaganMay 25, 2026
4 hours ago
g
PoliticsElections
Democrats want to run on corruption. Their own stock trades keep getting in the way
By Matt Brown and The Associated PressMay 25, 2026
7 hours ago
g
North Americawater use and conservation
America’s largest oil export hub is so starved of water that it’s been illegal to have a green lawn for 2 years
By Michelle Hummel and The ConversationMay 25, 2026
8 hours ago
g
EnvironmentLaw
You can’t repair your tractor because Hollywood was terrified of the VCR
By Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy and The ConversationMay 25, 2026
8 hours ago
r
Environmentclimate change
Rice feeds more than half the world. It’s also the climate equivalent of 239 million cars
By Hanqin Tian, Jingting Zhang, Pep Canadell, Shufen (Susan) Pan and The ConversationMay 25, 2026
8 hours ago
f
EconomyWorld Cup
The economist who wrote the book on sports finance has a number for FIFA’s World Cup haul: $15 billion
By Richard Sheehan and The ConversationMay 25, 2026
8 hours ago

Most Popular

The pig in the python: Baby Boomers are strangling the economy they built by refusing to move or retire
Economy
The pig in the python: Baby Boomers are strangling the economy they built by refusing to move or retire
By Nick LichtenbergMay 25, 2026
15 hours ago
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
4 days ago
The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure
Travel & Leisure
The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure
By Catherina GioinoMay 25, 2026
12 hours ago
Elon Musk's best friend could make more than $100 billion from SpaceX's IPO. His firm is also owed billions by SpaceX
Investing
Elon Musk's best friend could make more than $100 billion from SpaceX's IPO. His firm is also owed billions by SpaceX
By Eva RoytburgMay 25, 2026
11 hours ago
Uber CEO says rideshare 'freed up' his son from having to get a driver’s license—and he's one of many Gen Zers who aren’t willing to drive
Lifestyle
Uber CEO says rideshare 'freed up' his son from having to get a driver’s license—and he's one of many Gen Zers who aren’t willing to drive
By Sasha RogelbergMay 24, 2026
1 day ago
A billionaire and an A-list actor found refuge in a 37-home Florida neighborhood with armed guards—proof that privacy is now the ultimate luxury
Real Estate
A billionaire and an A-list actor found refuge in a 37-home Florida neighborhood with armed guards—proof that privacy is now the ultimate luxury
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 25, 2026
12 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.