With the UK decentralizing its regulatory system, there’s an opportunity for the decentralized sector of blockchain and crypto to have its new focal point. At the 2024 Innovate Finance Global Summit, attitudes were mixed towards crypto hiring in the region.
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A16z general partner Sriram Krishnan said the UK is in a “unique opportunity post-Brexit” to become the “the capital for Web3.” Krishnan said “there is amazing talent that we want to invest in,” and that many US employees and founders are excited about the prospect of moving there. He also notes that the quality talent is not just in London, “it’s really all of the UK.”
Krishnan expects there to be some exciting new crypto startups. He said, “if there were not brilliant founders, we wouldn’t be here.” A16z is launching its Web3 startup accelerator, CSX, in the UK for the first time this spring.
Not everyone is so bullish on the UK crypto talent market. On a separate panel at the event, Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith said that the fintech’s London office was the “only location where [its] headcount has stayed relatively static.” Smith says Blockchain has been hiring heavily in Europe, but “historically, those hires would have been in London.”
Smith also quashed any hopes of an IPO in the UK, despite calling it Blockchain’s “spiritual home.” He says “there would be a lot of work” for the UK to do, particularly in regard to its capital markets.
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