Los Angeles placed 11th globally and fourth among U.S. hubs in CoinDesk’s Crypto Hubs 2023 ranking, behind Wyoming, Silicon Valley, and Austin, Texas. LA’s score was hampered by a middling crypto regulatory score, which is the main factor in the drivers category and counts for 35% of the total weight. Additionally, LA had a lower-than-average quality-of-life score due to its high cost of living and bad pollution and traffic congestion. However, LA had a strong opportunities score that measures per-capita crypto jobs, companies, and events.
For sheer creativity per capita, no place beats my adopted home of Los Angeles, said CoinDesk’s Crypto Hubs 2023 author. LA has a long history of tech innovation, from the 1930s Caltech researchers who founded Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to the late 1960s UCLA program that sought ways for computers to communicate with one another. Today, crypto communities revolving around NFTs, Web3, and other protocols dot the landscape from the Downtown Arts District to neighborhoods hugging the coast.
Major movie studios, music labels, and talent agencies have embraced blockchain-based projects. Fox Entertainment recently pumped $100 million into its Blockchain Creative Labs, ViacomCBS and Lionsgate have inked deals with NFT platforms, and UTA added Larva Labs, the creator of Crypto Punks, to its roster of clients in 2021.
This year’s Outer Edge LA conference featured more than 250 speakers from the crypto, sports, and entertainment world. Ethereum development shop Consensys, and games developers Fun Gi and Mythical Games are hiring. LA’s grassroots interest in Web3 is hard to beat, with special crypto events, including blockchain weeks and more casual meet-ups, becoming part of the city’s business calendar.
LA’s relatively low quality-of-life score woefully underestimates its mountain-to-sea access, temperate, year-round climate, acceptance of individualism, and most of all, its food scene. Plus, LA has the best movie stars.