Last Year’s Crypto Market’s Collapse Couldn’t Shake New York’s Faith In The Digital Ledger Technology
The digital ledger technology that helps in creating Bitcoin and other digital tokens and cryptocurrencies is too dear to New York despite last year’s shocking downturns in the crypto market.
As per the reports from the Bloomberg, despite the difficult phase which the crypto market is facing, it has been decided that the Blockchain Center in Manhattan will open Thursday, said the New York City Economic Development Corporation. The plans to establish the center were announced on May 14, last year, when the NYC industry got almost 200 Million Dollars funding in 2017. It was launched to answer the growing blockchain based demands since 2015. As per the reports from the nycedc.com, the job demands rate increased with a whopping percentage of 800 percent since 2015.
The center is 4000 sq. Ft center, and is located at 54 W. 21st St. in the Flatiron District. It is at the center of the Silicon Alley. The center is a part of the partnership with affiliates of venture capital fund Future\Perfect Ventures, and the trade organization- Global Blockchain Business Council. There are possibilities that New York may even start to try out the benefits of the Blockchain technology starting this September.
The last year’s almost 90 percent downturn in the crypto assets’ and currencies’ prices, has reflected its effect several startups shutting their services down, many small and big companies had to lay off their staff and so on. In some cases deployment of the technology was also seen, such as at Walmart Inc. During a telephonic interview, Ana Arino the chief strategy officer at the EDC said that they are rather playing a long game. She further added that since the blockchain technology is in its nascent stage, so naturally the evolution from one year to another stays unpredictable. Given that Arino doesn’t know what the future holds for the company, but she added that the effort is rather to ensure that they have a ‘seat at the table shaping it.’
The brave leap of faith in the blockchain technology is ready to offer versatile services such as coding classes; software developers will get lunch lectures, these lectures will be open for the general public as well although the center is not going to enjoy any monopoly in the city, as there are other blockchain based communities which are already present and functioning for several years. One such example is Bitcoin Center NYC which opens every day. It is a self-funded since 2013. The founder of the community- Nick Spanos added that the company organizes monthly events too.
As per the reports from Bloomberg, on the one hand, where it is provided with a one-time investment of 100K Dollars, on the other hand, the operators have a plan to raise the money. The plan is to use routes such as membership dues, corporate partners. As per the managing partner at the Future\ Perfect Venture- Jalak Jobanputra, the corporate partners include Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. During a telephonic interview he said-
“This is a neutral spot; no one platform or company has undue influence over programming. What we want entrepreneurs to have is a choice.”
Many big names in the Blockchain industry such as IBM, R3 and Coinbase Inc. are showing quick progress in the city. There has been an increased shift in the number of blockchain based jobs. It has been recorded to be 80 percent higher than from last year.
