Crypto Hub 2023: Top 15 places to live freely and work smart | CoinDesk JAPAN | CoinDesk Japan

1 year ago 74

The industry is moving. In the past few weeks alone, three exchanges have pulled out of Canada: Binance, Bybit and OKX. Gemini announced a significant increase in its workforce and operations in Singapore. Venture capital (VC) Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has chosen London as its first overseas base.

It’s a fluid time for cryptocurrency companies. Due to the regulatory landscape, the industry’s center of gravity appears to be shifting east from North America (both the US and Canada are considered unfriendly).

Over the past year or so, Dubai has established a regulatory body, the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), while neighboring Abu Dhabi is looking to build its own crypto-friendly regulatory framework this year.

The EU (European Union) passed the “Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (MiCA)” in April, and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission announced in June that crypto-asset exchanges started accepting license applications.

The lack of a global regulatory framework for cryptoassets makes arbitrage targeting regulatory gaps possible, if not necessary.

Last year, the director of the International Monetary Fund’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department said: He called for a global regulatory framework to “provide safe spaces.”

Criteria for determining bases

Without global coordination, national regulators would be “bound to different regulatory frameworks.” Ultimately, those involved in crypto assets will have no choice but to “move to the friendliest country or region.”

This is the reality of the cryptocurrency industry today.

As remote work becomes more popular, crypto companies cannot ignore the possibility of relocating, or at least expanding, to crypto-friendly countries and regions. Countries and regions with well-established regulations are also attracting attention and interest from major companies.

Hong Kong politicians urged the company to apply for a license in Hong Kong after the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) sued Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, for trading unregistered securities. is no coincidence.

Coinbase, meanwhile, has announced that it has held talks with UAE authorities and is considering setting up a presence in the country.

Janina Pietrowska, a lawyer at Liechtenstein law firm Rechtsanwälte Lenert Partners, who advises specifically on things like security token offerings (STOs), said startup founders and digital nomads They said they were looking into the situation and trying to establish criteria for deciding where to base themselves.

He also said that while regulation is important, regulation should not be the only consideration. There are other important factors such as favorable investment climate, ease of doing business and low tax rates.

Crypto Hubs 2023: Top 15

We put ourselves in the shoes of crypto startup founders and collected data on eight criteria, including regulatory friendliness, digital infrastructure, and quality of life (QOL). In a nutshell, if you could relocate anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?

In other words, “Crypto Hubs 2023” is a ranking of countries and regions that are easy to live and work for cryptocurrency professionals. Ultimately, the Top 15 “crypto hubs” were selected as follows.

#1 Zug (Switzerland): Where Ethereum was Born and Crypto is Growing
2. Singapore: The Crypto Capital of Asia
3. London (UK): Global Financial Center Covers Crypto Assets
4. Seoul (South Korea): Individual investors are active even after the collapse of Terra
5. Dubai (UAE): Aiming to become an international financial center
6. Abu Dhabi (UAE): Middle East wealth connects TradFi with crypto
7. Wyoming (USA): Regulatory clarity and crypto-friendly banks
8. Silicon Valley (USA): VC mecca is somewhat distant from crypto assets
9. Austin (USA): Remote working developers emigrate
10. Berlin (Germany): DeFi (decentralized finance) is booming
11. Los Angeles, USA: Hollywood eyes Web3
12. New York City (USA): A crypto sandbox exists
13. Vancouver (Canada): A city with many early adopters of crypto assets
14. Ljubyana (Slovenia): A beautiful city with advanced cryptocurrency settlements
15. Lisbon (Portugal): A bustling city with long-term crypto nomads