Recent research findings shared by European venture capital investment firm Greenfield Capital highlight Lisbon, Berlin, and Paris among the top ten global cryptocurrency centers.
Lisbon Leads the Rankings
Newly disclosed results from a study conducted by Greenfield Capital place Lisbon, Berlin, and Paris among the world’s premier cryptocurrency hubs. Lisbon emerged as the foremost crypto-friendly destination, with half of the respondents identifying Portugal when prompted to name three cryptocurrency centers.
Jascha Samadi, Greenfield Capital’s co-founder, remarked that early-stage cryptocurrency enterprises assess the world through the lens of potential risks to their ventures, with startups now seemingly favoring Europe, and Lisbon in particular.
These findings emerge amidst mounting concerns over the United States’ suitability as a base for cryptocurrency firms. Recently, US regulators have intensified scrutiny on both nascent cryptocurrency startups and the banking partners of cryptocurrency companies.
MiCA: An Asset, Not a Hindrance
The venture capital firm had previously conducted similar research this year, surveying 68 European-based crypto project founders on various topics. Seventy percent of those surveyed identified forthcoming regulations as the most critical development to monitor in the coming year. According to the study, the Regulation of Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), formally adopted by the European Union in April, is perceived as an advantage rather than an impediment by crypto project founders, owing to the clarity it provides.
MiCA, while imperfect, offers considerable benefits, including clarity and a well-defined framework for centralized companies. MiCA provides insight into how regulators approach understanding and accepting something with which they are not yet sufficiently familiar, such as DeFi.