Think bitcoins are a passing fad? The guys behind the Bitcoin Center NYC sure don’t. On New Years Eve they threw a party to officially open their vast storefront office, located down the block from the New York Stock Exchange. And they’re planning on staying awhile. “We signed a 10-year lease,” Austin Alexander, the center’s deputy director, told Bank Innovation. One of the center’s founders, entrepreneur Nick Spanos, has a background in real estate, so he may have secured a good deal for the fledgling institution. The office is not much to look at now — a huge empty space that serves as a classroom for bitcoin newbies and gurus to meet up and talk virtual currency. An elevated space in back of the room will host bitcoin mining machines, and the center will also operate as a currency exchange specializing in, of course, bitcoins. The center will also offer consulting services, as well. The move is well-timed. Interest in bitcoins has never been greater. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, for example, there was a “Bitcoin Pavilion” hosting several bitcoin startups. The past several months have sent the decentralized digital currency’s value rocketing up and crashing [...]
↧