New York Plans Blockchain Center to Stake Claim as Industry Hub

It's Blockchain Week in the Big Apple, but if city leaders have their way, New York will become more than just a nice place for the industry to visit.

Announced Monday, the New York City Economic Development Corporation is launching several initiatives to put the city on the map as a blockchain technology hub.

Foremost among them is a plan to open a "Blockchain Center" that will both promote public awareness of the technology and facilitate conversations among industry stakeholders.

Karen Bhatia, a vice president at the agency, said it sees the city's major industries - finance, healthcare, media and real estate - as potential beneficiaries of blockchain.

Taken together, these moves signal that the NYCEDC views fostering blockchain activity as a strategic play that can create thousands of jobs for New York.

For the Blockchain Center, the NYCEDC will provide $100,000 in seed funding for the first year "As a pilot test, to see what the learnings are," Bhatia said, though she expects additional funding to be available as needed from private sources, given the amount of investment in the sector overall.

"The goal of this is to be a community center where people can walk in and learn more about what blockchain is, both the public as well as people who are working on new ventures and want some sort of a roadmap for how they should proceed," she said.

The center will also likely play host to some heated discussions since another of its express goals is to get entrepreneurs and regulators to - in Bhatia's words - "Sit down and have a real discussion about how these regulations are affecting innovation and entrepreneurship in New York City.".

"We're very well aware that the regulations are affecting blockchain companies here in New York.".

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