Crypto nomads move back to big cities like London, New York in bear market

Now, the 36-year-old crypto entrepreneur is back in London, working out of a hotel lobby. The gentle sea breeze is gone, replaced by the humming sounds of air conditioners trying to keep the British capital’s unusually hot summer at bay.

Gail is one of several crypto nomads who have started trickling back into major cities like London and New York, as financial hubs begin to come back to life after the pandemic.

As a subset of digital nomads, roaming crypto workers spent the past several years moving from country to country, persuading large financial centers to leave as the cost of living soared. Nomad Life is especially suited to the crypto crowd, with its 24/7 market and the ethos of a digital, borderless monetary future. But the drop in cryptocurrency prices following the pandemic travel restrictions has made it less practical and much more expensive for lifestyles to maintain.

“People want to be where business is happening and there are opportunities to expand their network,” said Mary Elizabeth Alcordi, who launched her completely remote company, Alcordi Global Strategies, during the pandemic. “Being in a big city like New York or London – with crypto integrating more aspects of traditional businesses and industries – is also beneficial from a networking standpoint.”

Gail, who is also the co-founder and CEO of blockchain project Panther Protocol, returned to London in March 2020 to start Elemental.io, a consumer credit platform formerly known as PayMachine.

“London is considered the fintech hub of the world and has tax benefits and fundraising incentives,” said Gail, who holds British and Barbadian passports.

London’s population grew by 4% in July 2022 from the same month two years earlier, according to NHS digital data. Workers are starting to return to offices, although not yet at pre-pandemic levels. About 60% to 70% of workers in London are back at their desks, according to data compiled in June by Google, which tracks the movements of some of its users.

According to Melissa, a global data intelligence and address analytics company, migration from many areas of New York City is also reversing as more families are moving to Manhattan in 2019 than before the pandemic.

From partying to fasting in Venice

Kenji Wang, co-founder of Symbolic Capital and former vice president and general manager of crypto exchange Huobi Global, moved back to New York in April after traveling to Europe and Latin America.

“I’m living in NYC because the bear market has reduced a lot of market noise and unnecessary networking,” Wang said. “I can focus on building my company and recruiting.

the current crypto Winter reminded him of the previous crash when cryptocurrency prices fell by 80% and it turned out to be “a highly efficient time to build new products and services.” The price of one bitcoin is down 50% this year, down from its November high of nearly $69,000. 2021.

Wang’s nomadic life included partying with Hollywood actor Vin Diesel and taking a walk in Barcelona’s Las Ramblas during the 2021 Venice Film Festival. Now he is back in the social life, playing basketball and expanding his crypto ventures in the Big Apple.

“I’ve also entered a 20-hour daily fast and lost a bunch of weight after losing the nomadic convention lifestyle,” Wang said.

Other nomads have put an end to the journey to gain their financial ramifications.

Sukanta Shekhar Das, 37, chief executive officer of information site CoinMarketBag, said, “This most recent turn of economic events and the resulting bear market has affected my finances a bit. So I thought it would be okay for me to take some of my losses. , regain my composure, and move back to a city I love for permanent residence.”

Das, who has spent the better part of the last five years traveling around the world, recently settled in Seoul, where he says the “crypto scene” is great.

“I am saving a fortune in travel costs – not to mention the absolute nightmare that has been traveling in the last 12-18 months,” he said.

nomads are growing up

Room rents in London are up 15% over the past year, and Manhattan rents climb to new highs, according to data compiled by roommate search website Spareroom, with some nomads returning to larger cities for greater stability. Many of them are, after all, growing up and finding that the lure of being nomads isn’t always easy to reconcile with the demands of starting a family.

Former Len Rattig, 39, said, “My wife, then girlfriend, was unhappy and wanted me to travel less, and I also found that I wasn’t very productive at work when I was on the road constantly. was.” Ethereum core developer who spent more than four years on the global road before returning to New York in 2020.

Ratig, now a lead developer at crypto project Spacemesh, bought a condo in the New York neighborhood of Harlem and is “battling how to stay plugged in in a super global, nomadic community with a newborn and a mortgage.”

Believe me some people will never stop walking. Burning Man, an annual arts festival held in Black Rock City, Nevada around the American Labor Day holiday, is on Gayle’s agenda.

He said, “Entrepreneurship is a game of balancing your responsibility and what you want to do. It is an important part of my life to work and play on adventure – striking a lifestyle that is dynamic and creative.” Are. “

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.

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