Europe is killing it in crypto
- The value of "token sales" in Europe this year is about $4.1 billion, far above the $2.6 billion in the US and $2.3 billion raised in Asia.
- Until the crash of 2008 it was the banking industry that siphoned off Europe's top minds. Not anymore.
In the race to be the world's dominant crypto region, European countries are crushing their peers in the US and Asia.
The value of "token sales" in Europe this year is about $4.1 billion, far above the $2.6 billion in the US and $2.3 billion raised in Asia. In a token sale - also known as an "initial coin offering," or ICO - a quantity of cryptocurrency is sold in the form of "tokens." See Europe's ICO dominance in the chart below:
Fabric Ventures, a VC fund, released a report today outlining some of the reasoning behind Europe's token cash boom.
More developers
According to Stack Overflow, Europe houses 5.5 million developers compared to 4.4 million in the US. And European universities churn out twice as many STEM PhDs as the US. The technical talent has always been there, but until the crash of 2008 it was the banking industry that syphoned off the top minds. Not anymore. "With this wave that's democratizing access to capital, the technical talent doesn't need to migrate to the US to raise venture capital and build global companies," the report said.
Favourable regulation
France "won't miss out on the blockchain revolution," according to economy minister Bruno Le Maire, and wants to become a global hub for ICOs. Switzerland has set out similar goals, while the UK has created a crypto assets task force.
The report says it has become a fierce competition to offer "the most founder-friendly & forward thinking regulatory environment for decentralized networks and their native crypto-assets."
The nature of European "city-states"
Europe has 50 countries, and some of those economies are small. And, frankly, some aren't doing so great. Any budding company in Europe knows it needs to spread internationally from Day One to avoid the traps of small domestic economies. Diverse and multinational teams have become the standard.