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Protocols CEO ChangesBrief · DeFi Protocols · 2024

March 10, 2024 · BlockFi founder Zac Prince says he is leaving the bankrupt lender and the crypto industry

Zac Prince Leaves BlockFi for Real Estate Startup

BlockFi founder Zac Prince posted on X on March 10, 2024, that he was leaving the bankrupt crypto lender, and CoinDesk reported the next day he had joined a real estate tax startup, Re Cost Seg.

Ryan Elliott DennisUpdated on Oct. 3, 20262 min read · 4 sources

The move at a glance

W0184

Who: Zac Prince
Role: Chief Executive OfficerChief executive, founder
Organization: BlockFi
In or out: OutDeparted as Chief Executive Officer
Became public: March 10, 2024The first dated public source, UTC
Source: BlockFi founder Zac Prince leaves the companyX

Two businessmen in casual attire shaking hands outside a modern office building. Photo · Pexels

“Zac Prince, founder of bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi, said on March 10, 2024, that he was leaving for a real estate tax firm rather than a new company in the industry he helped build. Does walking away from crypto answer what 15 months of bankruptcy proceedings taught him?”

Zac Prince, the founder of BlockFi, posted on X on March 10, 2024, that he was leaving the company and the crypto industry¹. CoinDesk reported on March 11, 2024, that Prince had landed at Re Cost Seg, a startup that provides cost segregation studies for real estate investors². BlockFi and eight affiliates had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 28, 2022, Banking Dive reported³. FTX's own bankruptcy had delayed money it owed the lender.

One of BlockFi's 6 leadership moves on the record came in 2024

Leadership moves CryptoLately has verified at BlockFi, by year

2024: 1
2021, 2022, 2023

Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.

Read the chart as a table

Item	Value
2021	3
2022	2
2023	0
2024	1

20 CEO exits on the record in 2024

CEO exits CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026

2024: 20
2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026

Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.

Read the chart as a table

Item	Value
2019	7
2020	9
2021	5
2022	18
2023	11
2024	20
2025	20
2026	18

The move

Prince's post named the weight of the company's failure directly. "Seeing the company I founded end in bankruptcy was devastating," he wrote, “but the hardest part was knowing that the event caused distress for BlockFi's clients, employees, investors and partners.” He added, “Every action I've taken since filing for bankruptcy has been with the focus of recovering as much value as possible for BlockFi's clients”¹.

CoinDesk's interview with Prince explained why he picked a business outside crypto. "I considered starting another crypto company after my time at BlockFi," Prince told the outlet. “I'm passionate about the space and believe in it as much as when I started BlockFi. However, my wife advised against it due to the craziness and volatility of the crypto industry. She suggested I do something less high-octane”².

BlockFi before and after

Prince co-founded BlockFi in 2017 with Flori Marquez. He testified at Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal trial, which he called "helpful in terms of enabling justice through a guilty verdict" in his X post¹. Prince also kept "substantially all" of his own crypto holdings inside BlockFi. He gave up his recovery rights "to increase the recovery pool for clients," he wrote. At Re Cost Seg, Prince told CoinDesk he planned to apply BlockFi's customer-service lessons. He wanted to bring "a fast and furious development cycle" from crypto into real estate technology².

What came next

BlockFi's settlement with the estates of FTX and Alameda Research, announced the week before Prince's post, was "trending in a positive direction" for the lender's creditors, Prince wrote¹. Distributions to BlockFi's wallet account holders had already reached full recovery, he said. Interest account clients had begun receiving initial payouts, with the potential to reach full recovery as the FTX estate's own payouts proceeded².

Prince was back in the crypto industry the next year. Blockworks reported on October 6, 2025, that Galaxy Digital had launched GalaxyOne, a consumer finance platform led by Prince⁴. He had joined Galaxy earlier in 2025, when it bought the personal finance app Fierce. GalaxyOne paired crypto trading with a cash account insured by Cross River Bank and the FDIC up to $250,000, the outlet reported. Prince said the platform reflected lessons from BlockFi's downfall.