Connecticut is getting further into the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector with the arrival of a major corporate tenant in that fast-growing sector.
Governor Ned Lamont today announced that Digital Currency Group (DCG), a leading investor in bitcoin and blockchain technology companies, has informed his administration that the company will be relocating its headquarters from New York City to Stamford, Connecticut. The company is expected to create more than 300 jobs in Connecticut over the next five years.
“Attracting new investment and job creation opportunities to Connecticut is a top priority for our administration and today”™s announcement is another indication that we are seeing results,” Governor Lamont said. “Digital Currency Group”™s decision to relocate their headquarters here is the latest example of how Connecticut is the ideal location for leading-edge companies that are focused on business growth.”
Founded in 2015 by Barry Silbert, who serves as the company”™s CEO, DCG is a global investment company that has invested in more than 200 blockchain companies and is the parent company of seven wholly-owned subsidiaries that have emerged as digital asset leaders. Several of those subsidiaries, including Grayscale Investments, the world”™s largest digital currency asset manager with more than $50 billion in assets under management, are also relocating to Connecticut. Institutional trading platform TradeBlock, as well as DCG Real Estate and DCG”™s new wealth management business HQ, will also call Connecticut home.
“It quickly became clear that Connecticut had everything we were looking for in a new headquarters,” Silbert said. “Its proximity to major metropolitan areas combined with its infrastructure, talent, business-friendly environment, and world-class facilities to house our rapidly-growing organization made it an easy choice. We are committed to making our new home in Stamford a hub for the next generation of fintech and blockchain entrepreneurs.”
Earlier this year, DCG signed a lease in the Shippan Landing complex located at 290 Harbor Drive in Stamford. This space is currently being renovated and the company expects to occupy its new headquarters in late 2022. The new Connecticut headquarters will occupy over 90,000 square feet of office space, and will house parent company DCG alongside subsidiaries Grayscale Investments, TradeBlock, DCG Real Estate, and HQ.
The company decided on its Connecticut location after evaluating potential sites in New Jersey and New York.
The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is supporting the project by providing a grant in arrears up to $5,011,800, contingent on the company creating and retaining more than 300 new full-time jobs.
“Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are the new frontier for financial investing, and DCG is at the forefront of this burgeoning sector,” DECD Commissioner David Lehman and Peter Denious, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization AdvanceCT, said. “Connecticut is a great fit for dynamic investment firms like DCG that are disrupting the marketplace and showing great growth potential over the long-term.”
In addition to the businesses that are relocating to Connecticut, DCG also owns and operates CoinDesk (the industry”™s leading media, research, and events platform), Genesis (a leading institutional lending and brokerage firm), Foundry (a financing and advisory company focused on digital asset mining and staking), and Luno (a leading global digital asset exchange and wallet).
On November 1, DCG announced new investments that pushed its valuation to $10 billion. On November 18, the company announced the completion of a debt capital raise that provided a credit facility of up to $600 million.
