Cryptocurrency exchange FTX secretly funded media company the Block for over a year with money sent to the Block's chief executive, Axios reported on Friday, citing sources.

The Block's employees were previously unaware of the payments, according to the report.

FTX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while FTX's former Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried did not respond to a phone call and text message seeking comment.

Regulators around the globe, including in the Bahamas where FTX is based and in the United States, are investigating the role of FTX's top executives in the firm's stunning collapse, Reuters previously reported.

The crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy last month after a liquidity crisis that saw at least $1 billion of customer funds vanish. (Reporting by Anirban Chakroborti in Bengaluru and John McCrank in New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)