What are the main destinations to make a career in the cryptocurrency sector? For some, they are the traditional innovation centers or “hubs”, such as Miami or Silicon Valley. For others, it is Singapore or Seoul. Furthermore, some even claim that as long as you have a stable Internet connection, regardless of location, it is enough for you to carve your own path in the realm of Web 3.0.
To answer this question, Cointelegraph Editor-in-Chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr asked a panel of experts at the annual Web Summit panel in Lisbon. Speakers at the event included Zach Coelius, Managing Partner of Coelius Capital, Laura González-Estéfani, Founder and CEO of theventure.city, and Oscar Ramos, General Partner of Orbital Startups.
According to González-Estéfani, who was born in Spain but spent most of her time in the San Francisco Bay Area and Miami, the next tech hub will be a place where people can “get the support they need from the different partners , investors, and ecosystem builders”. And for González-Estéfani, that place is more likely to be in the United States than in Europe.
“The Bay Area is very accessible; anyone is willing to help you. People see you and fall in love with your vision; if you are looking for funding, there are many entrepreneurs willing to help you. If you go to Miami, there is a great mix of people from all over the world, entrepreneurs of all ages. But if you look at Europe, it’s much more conservative.”
González-Estéfani’s opinion, however, was not echoed by Coelius, who was born in Minnesota and moved to the Bay Area in 2005. His view of the matter is very different: “When I first arrived, I saw billions of dollars flowing into the tech industry”Coelius said. “But that energy, which was all focused on the Bay Area, has now spread all over the world. So whether it’s Miami, Lisbon or Kosovo, the innovation is incredible all over the world.”
Coelius added that the group mentality in the Bay Area is one of the main factors why he believes the next tech hubs will instead be in scattered locations around the world:
“A lot of people think the same way, they go to the same parties, they play the same games, they think the same things. And that makes things really boring. So personally I’m really excited about all the new ideas.” that are showing up for people all over the world.
As for Ramos, who also comes from Madrid but has been living in Asia for 15 years, he believes that the future of technological developments will be concentrated in the East. “In China, I have seen the revolution of a technical system,” he said. “When I arrived, you couldn’t pay anything online. You needed someone to come see you and you paid that person. And now, there’s a market that we’re seeing as the most advanced FinTech ecosystem in the world.”
At this point, Lucrezia-Cornèr also got on board. While Cointelegraph is based in more than 30 countries, Lucrezia-Cornèr manages its day-to-day corporate affairs in a tiny Italian town of less than 7,000 inhabitants. “If we gathered all the people in one place, we would really lose all our value.” he said, and continued: “Because our value is not dependent on the place where we live, but on whether we are able to seek the tastes of others”.
Coelius seems to agree, adding that his advice to employers and workers is: “go where your network is, where your support system is, where your infrastructure has been built. And then, you can recruit talent from all over the world.”
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