EOS Startup Block.One Is Using Its Billions to Buy Back More Equity

One, the company that built the EOS blockchain, is in the middle of another equity buyback in order to bring on more strategic investors, a source familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.

The company has previously conducted equity buybacks in order to resell those shares to new investors that it sees as helpful to its business, the source explained.

One repurchasing equity from prior investors in order to bring on new ones.

A recent report from Bloomberg - which cited a March 19 email to the startup's shareholders - noted that some investors had received a 6,567 percent return on their Block.

The Bloomberg report may have been unclear about which investors stood to gain so much.

"The buyback was designed for seed investors, who had been in for a long time, and it made room for potential future strategic shareholders in a way that didn't unnecessarily inflate our balance sheet," Brendan Blumer, Block.

Citing an email sent to shareholders on March 19, the Bloomberg report emphasizes the involvement of PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, along with noted investors Alan Howard and Louis Bacon.

The source told CoinDesk that Thiel, Bacon and Howard are strategic investors that came on in July 2018, much later than the seed investors.

One declined to share with CoinDesk the investor email that Bloomberg reviewed.

The investor letter said it also held 140,000 BTC. If Block.