In Brief:
- FTX is expanding its office space in Miami as crypto jobs move to Florida.
- FTX also has significant offices in San Francisco, Chicago and also the Bahamas.
- The Miami office now is primarily focused on business development, partnerships and derivatives.
FTX US announced that it is expanding in Miami, where the naming rights to the Miami Heat basketball arena are already owned by cryptocurrencies exchange.
Avinash Dabir, FTX USA’s Vice President of business development, said in an interview, “The company is building a permanent space with capacity for 16 to 18 employees in the Brickell financial district, an increase from the four people now in a temporary office nearby.”
Miami, an abode to lively beaches and popular nightlife, is now emerging as an early beneficiary of the crypto and blockchain industries’ growth. This could also be fuelled especially after the pandemic brought with it a work-from-anywhere norm.
FTX has its main offices in San Francisco, Chicago, and now Miami. FTX also has an international operations unit that has recently shifted to the Bahamas.
Dabir also observed that the crypto opportunity in real estate is still in its budding phase, and FTX’s role is essentially to cut out friction in the conversion and payment process. But he pictures a time when property titles could be non-fungible tokens or NFTs. He hopes for a future where in escrow accounts could be handled through smart contracts and crypto could help improve the entire real-estate process.
“I can’t think of a better place to do that” than Miami, he said. “It feels like everyone I talk to is in real estate, outside of crypto.”
The Miami office now is primarily engrossed in business development, partnerships, and derivatives, with key people from its recent acquisition, crypto derivatives firm Ledger Holdings Inc., also based there.
Dabir revealed that the recent Miami-based partnerships, including one with Property Markets Group, will encourage local real estate trade involving cryptocurrency. “The partnership is currently helping with payments in crypto on units for PMG’s new E11EVEN Hotel & Residences”, Dabir said.
On the business front, The average daily trading volume of crypto derivatives exchange FTX US affiliate jumped by 512% during the third quarter as the company capitalized on partnerships and new business lines.
Interestingly, its peak total volume during a 24-hour period, which occurred on September 7, was $807 million.
Miami has seemingly become the heart of the crypto market. With the City of Miami planning to soon give out a “bitcoin yield” from the staking of its cryptocurrency to its citizens, this instance might be the first of its kind, if it all pans out properly.
