26
FEATURE Crypto Weekly
New York is Becoming a World Crypto Center T
he Bitcoin industry is taking up office space in New York City as it strives to stake a claim in the Big Apple as a long-term player. In December, Andreessen Horowitz, one of the largest venture capital firms in the world, signed a long-term lease at 200 Lafayette Street for 33,560 square feet for its $3.1 billion crypto fund. Several crypto businesses, including Coinbase, established their first NYC offices, including Chainalysis, which leased more than 77k square feet at 114 Fifth Avenue; Blocktech, which leased at 55 Wall Street; Cipher Mining, which leased at One Vanderbilt; Arca, a digital asset management company, which leased at 75 Rockefeller Plaza; and Coinbase, which leased 30,000 square feet at 55 Hudson Yards in June of 2021. Current Real Estate Advisors co-founder Brandon Charnas
May 2022 | Volume 26
brokered the deal with Andreeson and other crypto companies. "Many of our portfolio companies are opening up offices in New York that are based on NFT, Web3, and blockchain."
new crypto companies and sign their own deals. He said, "Let's not just have an office for ourselves. It should contain an event space and an incubator for entrepreneurs. That's what will make us competitive."
Blockchain companies are filling up New York City's office space to establish a longterm presence in the Big Apple. One of the major reasons crypto firms set up shop in NYC: to attract the best employees. According to Charnas, events, as well as office space, are being sought by companies to recruit top engineers. "How better to compete for those engineers than to give them a space that represents the brand, that represents the company, and that says more than just a place to work, it shows the company's ethos," he said. He says that office space firms increasingly need to woo investors to raise more money to invest in
Chainalysis is among the crypto firms setting up shop in New York that aim to take advantage of the city's talent and develop it as a new center of crypto activity. In an email to Yahoo Finance, Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager said, "New York is the logical home for cryptocurrency businesses." Chainalysis plans to tap into the city's deep talent pool as it grows. Mayor Eric Adams pledged to make New York the epicenter for crypto in an effort to attract talent, create jobs, and boost the economy, as New York competes with Miami for start-ups, venture firms, and crypto
www.cryptoweeklymag.com
