Mike Dudas

He began his career in corporate M&A at Disney, later worked on Google’s payments business, and worked at Braintree/Venmo and PayPalPayPalPayPal Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: PYPL) is an American digital payments company that operates payment brands including PayPal, Venmo, Braintree, and Xoom, providing online and in-store payments, money transfers, and consumer credit to consumers and merchants worldwide.Open the full entry; he also co-founded the mobile marketing platform Button.⁠[1][2]

In 2018, he moved from Button to found The Block, a cryptocurrency research and news outlet, and served as its CEO.⁠[3][2][4]

According to a 2022 report by The Block, he left The Block in 2021 to join the stablecoin company PaxosPaxosPaxos is a blockchain-infrastructure company founded in 2012 and led by CEO Charles Cascarilla. It provides enterprises with digital-asset custody, trading, settlement and stablecoin-issuance technology. Its associated assets include PYUSD, USDP, PAXG and USDG, with issuer entities and regulatory oversight varying by asset.Open the full entry; the report’s disclosure states that he no longer has a financial interest in The Block. A 2024 CoinDeskCoinDeskCoinDesk is a cryptocurrency media, events, index, and data company founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York. Its businesses include the CoinDesk news website, the annual crypto industry conference Consensus, and the CoinDesk Indices index business. In November 2023, the digital asset exchange Bullish acquired CoinDesk from Digital Currency Group, and CoinDesk has since operated as an independent subsidiary of Bullish.Open the full entry profile describes him as an advisor to Paxos.⁠[3][4]

On May 12, 2022, The Block reported that 6th Man Ventures, which he co-founded with StayTuned Digital CEO Serge Kassardjian, had raised the bulk of a $145 million target for its second crypto fund, while the firm’s first fund had been only $7.4 million; the new fund planned to write checks of up to $4 million into early-stage crypto companies.⁠[3]

In the speaker listing for the Consensus 2024 conference, he was listed as managing partner of 6th Man Ventures, described as an early-stage crypto venture firm investing in applications and infrastructure.⁠[4][5]

The same profile says he is also a co-founder of LinksDAO, which describes itself as a modern golf and leisure club community and which, according to the profile, uses NFT-based membership.⁠[4][6][7]

The Block: Official website: https://www.theblock.co/ (opens in a new window)⁠[5]

LinksDAO: Official website: https://linksdao.io/ (opens in a new window)⁠[7]

X: Public account: https://x.com/mdudas (opens in a new window)⁠[5]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdudas (opens in a new window)⁠[5]