CoinDesk to stay in New York after Digital Currency Group moves to Connecticut
New York-based crypto venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) is relocating its offices to Connecticut and plans to create 300 new jobs in the state, reports Bloomberg.
Protos has learned crypto-focused media platform CoinDesk, one of DCG’s most prominent subsidiaries, will stay put.
The company, which also counts asset manager Grayscale Investments and brokerage Genesis Global Trading among its subsidiaries, will relocate to Stamford.
DCG also reportedly visited potential sites in New Jersey and New York.
According to a statement from Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, the company will take a 90,000-square-foot office.
Grayscale will also share the new space, along with fellow subsidiaries TradeBlock and DCG Real Estate.
The move will also be backed with a grant in arrears up to $5,011,800 from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD).
This will be on the condition that DCG creates 300 full-time positions over the next five years.
Big win for Connecticut
Speaking to Bloomberg, DGC chief exec Barry Silbert talked up the new office’s perfect location. He also gushed about The Constitution State’s newfound status as a leading location for blockchain companies.
“Its proximity to major metropolitan areas combined with its infrastructure, talent, business-friendly environment, and world-class facilities to house our rapidly-growing organization made it an easy choice.”
DCG was recently valued at $10 billion, making the move a big win for Connecticut.
States across the US, including Miami and New York, are vying to become home to the blockchain and crypto industries’ biggest players.
DCG moving but CoinDesk staying put
DCG’s move comer after its controversial decision in September 2019 to move its crypto media subsidiary CoinDesk, which it acquired in 2015, into the same building
At the time, many of CoinDesk’s staff voiced concerns that the move could compromise the publication’s editorial integrity.
And despite Silbert’s efforts to allay these fears, a large number of CoinDesk staff left. This included editor-in-chief Pete Rizzo.
It’s unclear whether they did so in response to working in closer proximity to DCG.
[Read more: Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group is now a $10B crypto empire]
Protos understands that no CoinDesk staff will be following DCG to Connecticut. Instead, all editorial operations will remain in New York.
DCG and CoinDesk have operated out of separate offices within the same building since October 2020. DCG finished construction on its new Stamford headquarters earlier this year.
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Edit 19:01 UTC, Sept 30: Updated context about CoinDesk and DCG throughout.