# There’s never been a better time to be a crypto true believer in SF Source: https://sfstandard.com/2024/12/17/bitcoin-btc-web3-crypto-blockchain Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Theres-never-been-a-better-time-to-be-a-crypto-true-believer-in-SF?index=0x676322239a0487ff960ceb1d6ad022bee3993232340e88837553de9a483cd97d9142da8b Submitted by naomiii.eth on 2024-12-18 UTC, 2 upvotes, 1 comment ## Summary Crypto founders in San Francisco say the city is poised to lead the industry's next boom, citing new U.S. regulatory clarity and a concentration of engineers and venture capital. The article profiles the House of Web3 co-working space in the Presidio, where teams are building consumer-facing apps and financial infrastructure. Alex Masmej, who raised $8 million for his company Drakula, expects the bull market to attract more funding. Max Segall, COO of Privy, which raised an $18 million Series A round last year, says Privy gives customers a wallet usable across crypto with only an email address. ## Article A few years ago, it was dark days for San Francisco’s crypto community. The market was in the dumps, FTX was a big embarrassment, and everyone who worked in the industry had scattered to Miami, Austin, or New York. “It seemed like the worst time to be hanging out in crypto and San Francisco,” recalled Catherine Chang, co-founder of crypto marketing company DeForm. But the vibe was much more cheerful when I stopped by crypto club House of Web3 (opens in new tab) the other day, just a few days after bitcoin surged past its historic $100,000 threshold. Expecting a dingy basement full of NFT day-trading gremlins chowing on Cheetos, I instead found teams of mostly men stoically plugging away inside a restored brick building in the Presidio, where Vitalik Buterin once conceived pieces of Ethereum’s infrastructure. The mood at the club, a co-working space for anyone working in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, was exuberant. But not in the hype-y way of previous crypto booms. It felt measured and professional, like a WeWork location, albeit with elegant interiors and stunning bay views. Instax photos on a wall at the House of Web3, a coworking space in a restored army barracks. | Source: Jason Henry for The Standard The tide for crypto is turning, as cryptonians anticipate Goldilocks regulatory conditions courtesy of the Trump administration and a crypto-curious Congress. While the industry is still scattered across New York, Miami, Austin, and the rest of the world, founders in San Francisco say the city is poised to host the revolution because of its high concentration of engineers and venture capital funding. “I’m sure we’ll do well in this bull market, which will attract more funding,” said Alex Masmej, a crypto founder and investor who has raised $8 million for his company, Drakula. “The tide will rise back to us.” These founders aren’t wasting time celebrating. They’re hunkered down at House of Web3 and in informal developer groups across the city to strategize how to snatch this opportunity to bring crypto to the masses. Out of the way, Bored Apes, they say. It’s time to get serious. DeForm co-founder Catherine Chang has seen the San Francisco exodus during the last crypto bust start to reverse. | Source: Jason Henry for The Standard Time to grind In the Soho House-esque rooms of House of Web3, the walls are adorned with vibrant, abstract digital art owned by cryptocurrency firm Edge & Node, the parent firm of the co-working space. “We are in the trenches,” Masmej said as we walked the corridors. Seven friends took a gamble on a Mid-Market ‘communal living room.’ Now what? Illegal former Academy of Art dorms are being turned into tech hostels That war-time metaphor has become slang within the community, referencing activity in the highest-risk areas of the cryptocurrency market, like trading and minting coins. There was an extra bit of irony since the building was once used to house soldiers heading off to fight in World War I. Masmej is something of a celebrity in the crypto world, known for creating an eponymous token (opens in new tab) to finance his move from France to San Francisco. He raised $20,000 in five days and crossed the Atlantic to begin working on his crypto startups in 2020. His newest project is a TikTok-like app that allows content creators to directly monetize their content via the blockchain. Annica Benning, who works in communications, at the House of Web3 on Dec. 6. | Source: Jason Henry for The Standard Segall is COO of Privy, a crypto payments startup that last year raised an $18 million Series A round. | Source: Jason Henry for The Standard Masmej works most days out of House of Web3, where he’s part of a growing cohort of founders building consumer-facing apps and financial infrastructure on the blockchain, a secure network where information is stored on decentralized “blocks.” His friend Max Segall also spends most of his days working from the club. Segall’s startup Privy, founded to enable crypto payouts, last year raised an $18 million Series A round (opens in new tab). Crypto products have historically lacked wide adoption because they weren’t usable by the general public. “To get someone to do anything in crypto, it was, like, a 20-step process,” said Segall, who became disillusioned with the clunkiness of traditional finance and decided the only way to fix it was to build a parallel system from the ground up using crypto. “To do anything in crypto, you need a wallet, and no one’s going to take the time to set one up,” he said. Privy gives customers a wallet they can use across the crypto world with only an email address. Privy powers a host of popular consumer-facing crypto startups, like Zora (opens in new tab), OpenSea (opens in new tab), and Blackbird (opens in new tab); the latter, a restaurant loyalty app from the founder of Resy, allows users to collect and redeem points at Arcana and Dalida, among others. House of Web3 has a minimalist aesthetic, with starkly elegant interiors and bay views. | Source: Jason Henry for The Standard The coming boom At lunchtime, we went for a walk along the Parade Ground, a lush lawn with red Adirondack chairs facing the San Francisco Bay, the Marin headlands, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Over lamb gyro bowls from the Presidio’s permanently parked food trucks, the crypto enthusiasts discussed with zeal their predictions of the coming boom. Chang, Masmej, and Segall said new regulatory clarity in the U.S. will lure founders back just as venture capital starts writing checks to startups. Investor Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures is full of excitement (opens in new tab) about funding crypto startups, while crypto-focused funds in Silicon Valley like Haun Ventures, Blockchain Capital, and Dragonfly are expected to deploy capital in the coming months. While New York is home to a lot of buzzy consumer apps, as the crypto boom begins to intersect with AI — in ways both useful and terrifying — the scene will be situated squarely in Silicon Valley, Masmej said. “You can have an AI agent making trades on the blockchain for you; you have AI agents becoming influencers,” he said. “The AI boom is growing the crypto world, which is making San Francisco even bigger for crypto.” Barely out of the gates of a huge crypto downturn, these founders are prepared for volatility. Chang said she already misses the calm of the bear market, when her team could build technology undisturbed by the hype. But the boom and bust, she said, is part of the process. “With every single cycle, the floor of what is possible literally just goes up,” Chang said. ## Comments **macbudkowski.eth**: Is it me or did this article feel like a PR piece ordered by Alex Masmej?