Cash News
Circle Internet Financial, Boston’s most prominent cryptocurrency startup, is moving its headquarters to New York City just as the digital currency markets have emerged from a long downturn.
Longtime Boston entrepreneur Jeremy Allaire, who cofounded Circle here 11 years ago, said the company will open a new office on the 87th floor of One World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan early next year. Circle created one of the world’s most popular cryptocurrencies linked to the value of the US dollar, a less volatile type of digital asset than bitcoin known as a stablecoin.
As the financial capital of the United States, New York already had a far larger crypto scene than Boston, including the headquarters of blockchain security company Fireblocks, collectibles platform OpenSea, and trading site Paxos. New York has some 464 venture-capital backed startups working on cryptocurrencies or blockchain technology versus 71 in Boston, according to data from PitchBook.
“Today, New York City is home to an enormous number of crypto firms that are leading and innovating in nearly every area of this industry,” Allaire said in a post on the the social media site formerly called Twitter. “New York may have the most talent-density in crypto of any city in the world. It’s truly astounding, and we feel so privileged to join this thriving community of companies with a flagship headquarters in New York.”
The new headquarters, taking up a full floor of the skyscraper that replaced the twin towers, will have a view of the Statue of Liberty and will function as a “convening space” rather than a traditional office, Circle said in a release. The move comes after Circle, which has almost 1,000 employees, has also shifted primarily to remote working, the company said.
Circle’s departure will leave a void in the Boston crypto scene. Circle has raised more than $1 billion in backing, but no other Boston crypto startup has raised even $100 million yet, according to PitchBook data.
Dave Balter, chief executive of Flipside Crypto in Boston, praised Allaire as “one of the great ones,” and downplayed the rivalry with New York. “It’s a fantastic outcome for crypto as a whole, bringing a top tier company to the financial capital of the world,” Balter said. “They’re just down the [highway] 200 miles … and crypto knows few geographic boundaries.”
The move comes before Allaire completed his years-long effort to take Circle public. The company struck a deal to go public by merging with a blank check company in 2021 but cancelled in 2022 after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Then in January, Circle made a confidential filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering but has not yet progressed to a public filing, which is required before the company could list its stock.
Circle has over $35 billion of its stablecoin, called USDC, in circulation. That’s down from a peak of more than $55 billion in June 2022. Each stablecoin is backed by $1 invested in low risk assets such as bank accounts and Treasury bills.
Aaron Pressman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @ampressman.