The first-ever New York’s Blockchain week will take place May 11thtill 17thin partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation including job fair and hackathon.
New York will host the Blockchain Week Consensus 2018 event from May 11 to 17 to sell the city as a global capital for blockchain. It will include a job fair and hackathon.
The event is organized by CoinDesk in partnership with New York City Economic Development Corporation. It will send a positive message about cryptocurrency to a nascent crypto community in New York. It will also strengthen ties between the community and crypto companies and increase investments in the area. This is according to Anthony Hogrebe, senior vice president at NYCEDC.
“We think there’s already a tremendous presence here in New York, but it’s also a nascent community. If we don’t plant a flag and make strategic investments, New York could lose that critical mass.”
Sponsors of the event include more than 100 companies who might also attend the fair. Some of the crypto entities attending the fair include Dash and Shapeshift. Accenture will use the event to recruit developers. It will be free to the public.
The annual event will attract about 4,000 and 5,000 attendees, a double from last year’s figure. About 250 leaders will speak during the event. Speakers include a variety of leaders in the crypto space. They include Ripple and Stellar cofounder Jed McCaleb and BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes. Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey will also speak.
The event comes at a time when demand for blockchain-related jobs in New York is higher than in previous years. It had 745 openings in 2017 compared to just 93 in 2015. The number is also higher than in Bay Area, which has 662 openings according to Burning Glass. Bay Area had 250 positions in 2015.
South Korea, Japan, and Europe are other major hotbeds for blockchain jobs. CoinDesk CEO Kevin Worth says New York can also attract meaningful innovations like any other place.
