The decentralization of cryptocurrency companies and the boom in telecommuting may end flashy corporate headquarters

Now neither Coinbase nor Binance has a headquarters

Binance is one of the biggest players in the cryptocurrency space, with the exchange valued at as much as $300 billion, and you’ll notice something unique about Binance: it doesn’t have a physical headquarters.

Binance’s lack of a fixed headquarters has put regulators in a bind because they say it makes regulation more difficult. But Binance isn’t the only cryptocurrency company that sees a need for a headquarters — Coinbase also recently eliminated its San Francisco headquarters in favor of working entirely remotely.

In recent months, crypto companies have begun to pave the way for a move away from the sprawling, glitzy headquarters of Web2 companies like Apple, Google and Meta, which have poured billions of dollars into their Silicon Valley command centers.

But their successor, Web3, is imbued with the remote-first principles of the decentralization movement, and with the rise of remote work during the pandemic, it could mean the demise of headquarters, which had been a physical beacon of the thriving tech world.

Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken All Make Cases for Removing Headquarters

Coinbase is now without a headquarters, but it hasn't always been that way. The exchange, which has been based in a San Francisco high-rise since 2014, also offers Silicon Valley-style perks like “game rooms, nap rooms, free meals and a Well stocked refrigerator".

However, about a year after the outbreak, Coinbase announced the permanent closure of its San Francisco office in favor of a "remote first" and no longer has a physical headquarters. The company further reiterated those plans in its prospectus ahead of its April 2021 listing.

In May 2021, Coinbase tweeted: "We are committed to not having a headquarters, to show our distributed workforce that we believe no one place is more important than another." (The company is based in Delaware.) register.)

Another cryptocurrency exchange, Kraken, followed suit, removing its headquarters in April of this year. At the time CEO Jesse Powell said the closure was in response to incidents of crime employees encountered on their way to the San Francisco office, adding that Kraken had "no plans to establish a new formal global headquarters."

Then, of course, there’s Binance, which has been dodging questions about its specific business long before the pandemic.

“Where I sit is Binance’s office,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said at a conference in 2020.

Changpeng Zhao encountered obstacles in China and in Malta. Regulators say Binance doesn’t have the proper licenses to conduct its business — that’s just part of the regulatory woes, which stem in part from the fact that the company isn’t registered anywhere.

Currently, Binance’s parent company, Binance Holdings, appears to be registered in the Cayman Islands, but authorities told the Journal that the exchange is not registered to operate.

Changpeng Zhao admitted in September 2021 that if Binance wants to get along with global regulators, the company may need to establish some kind of physical base and become a centralized entity.

"As the biggest player in the industry, we need to prepare for this shift," Zhao told the South China Morning Post at the time. "We're making changes to make it easier to work with regulators."

In April, he told Fortune that Binance would announce a real headquarters “soon.” He has not disclosed the exact location.

'Cryptocurrency Spirit' Prefers Remote Work by Default

That's not to say major cryptocurrency companies don't have physical headquarters. Bahamas-based FTX exchange just opened a new headquarters in Chicago, NFT marketplace OpenSea has 93 employees in New York, and Ripple still has a headquarters in San Francisco.

However, the decentralization of this industry and the upsurge of telecommuting have a profound impact on the entire business world. Players in the Web3 world do not need a global headquarters as long as they are willing.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that for companies such as Coinbase, they found the concept of the headquarters "contrary to our culture."

Brian Armstrong said in early 2021: "Abandoning a formal headquarters is also more in line with the spirit of cryptocurrency, built on the inherent benefits of decentralization."

Source: businessinsider

https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-startups-nix-headquarters-remote-work-coinbase-binanace-2022-5