New York is now the center of crypto

The first is that even in the depths of crypto winter, the industry is booming. The riverside venue was packed as executives from decades-old firms such as Ripple and Coinbase took the stage alongside executives from busy newer projects such as Near, Mysten and Solana. Unlike previous conferences, no one felt the need to defend the existence of blockchain as a technology or an asset class, or to quibble about crypto being “incipient” or in a “pre-Cambrian” phase and so on. Instead, it’s obvious now that crypto is real, and it’s here to say it.

Another thought that struck me at Mainnet is how traditional finance (“TradFi”) is now part of the crypto scene. My conversations on stage included those with executives from Bank of America and S&P, and with venture capitalists who had come up in the traditional VC world but now focused on crypto investing. In years past, people with such pedigrees would have avoided a crypto conference or else held themselves out as a separate industry (remember the ill-fated earlier era of “blockchain not Bitcoin”). Today, the old guard of the financial world is immersed in the same crypto world as everyone else.

And this brings me to my last observation – that New York City is now the epicenter of crypto. While blockchain culture was born and nurtured in Silicon Valley, and flourishes everywhere from Miami to Berlin, New York has emerged as the best place to cut deals and meet others in the industry face-to-face. The city has long been home to key crypto firms, including Galaxy and Gemini, but today it is being overloaded as the traditional giants of Wall Street – from BlackRock to Nasdaq – pile in as well.

New York’s emergence at the forefront of crypto is a fitting development. The city’s financial sector controls trillions of dollars in capital, and remains the beating heart of US and global capitalism. New York has also been the leader of past financial eras, including those defined by major banks and brokerages. It only makes sense that the city has come to lead the crypto era as well.

Jeff John Roberts
[email protected]
@jeffjohnroberts

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