Tech:NYC Digest: October 11

Tech:NYC Digest: October 11

October 11, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Welcome back! In today’s digest, NYC implements its own guns ban for Times Square, the ballot proposals to know about for Election Day, and why Wall Street is warming up to crypto. 

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  • Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency as migrants being bused from border states continue to overwhelm NYC homeless shelters and housing service providers. (New York Times) Roughly 17,000 migrants have now arrived in the city since April. 

  • Mayor Adams signed a pair of bills into law today formalizing Times Square as a “gun-free zone” — even as the designation remains in legal limbo due to a recent ruling from a federal judge in upstate New York. (New York Daily News)

  • The White House today unveiled a preview of the application it will use for borrowers to apply for the student loan forgiveness program. (Politico) Here’s a helpful thread about what to expect in the coming weeks.

  • We’re less than one month away from Election Day, when New Yorkers will decide on three ballot proposals that promise a new racial equity agenda for the city. Proposals include a new citywide commission on racial equity and a requirement that the city annually measure a new “true cost of living” metric to inform policy decisions. (Gothamist)

    • And reminder: this Friday Oct. 14 is the last day to register to vote, and Oct. 19 is the deadline to update your home address.

  • For the first time since the pandemic, visitors to the Statue of Liberty can once again climb up into its crown for a sweeping view of New York Harbor as the National Park Service lifts one of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions. (NPR)

In other reading:

  • Which Amenities Are Worth the Most to New York City Buyers? (New York Times)

  • Will there be a COVID winter wave? What scientists say (Nature)

  • The Egg Cream, a New York Icon, Is Evolving for a New Generation (Eater NY)

There are plenty of reasons why Wall Street has been slow to invest significantly in crypto — until now. (Protocol)

  • Accounting and security concerns have been often mentioned, but the lack of infrastructure for large institutions compared to what exists in more traditional, regulated markets made for a hard match.

But with crypto’s maturation, more Wall Street players are being convinced to deal in.

  • EDX Markets is a first-of-its-kind digital assets exchange that’s being developed by a group of Wall Street titans, including Citadel, Fidelity Investments, and Charles Schwab, as well as venture capital firms like Sequoia and Paradigm, as an alternative to large stock exchanges like NYSE and Nasdaq.

  • Nasdaq, as well as firms like BlackRock, have already rolled out custody platforms of their own, and BNY Mellon announced today is rolling out crypto services to expand the assets it manages. 

Crypto doubles down on New York: In launching, EDX Markets announced it would partner with Paxos, a NYC-founded startup already regulated by New York State, to provide the custody and wallet technology. 

  • Walter Hessert, head of strategy at Paxos, told Protocol “we still haven't seen any of the big bank holding companies in the US bring one of these offerings to market,” but that EDMX has the potential to attract large banks into digital assets because it brings “traditional market structure and also traditional market participants to this liquidity offering.”

In 2021, 46% of all venture capital funding nationwide for cryptocurrency companies went to those based in NYC. (Bloomberg) If a crypto-centric exchange can work anywhere, it’s going to work in New York.

In other reading:

  • So You Want to Work Remotely: A Guide (New York Times)

  • This Is Why October Is A Huge Month For Job Hunters (Refinery29)

  • More Businesses Want to Hire People With Criminal Records Amid Tight Job Market (Wall Street Journal)

  • Alkymi, a NYC-based data workflow automation startup, raised $21 million in Series A funding. Intel Capital led the round and was joined by insiders Canaan Partners, Work-Bench, and SimCorp. (TechCrunch)

  • Altana AI, a NYC-based supply chain visibility platform, raised $100 million in Series B funding. Activate Capital led the round and was joined by OMERS Ventures, Prologis Ventures, Reefknot Investments, Four More Capital, GV, Amadeus Capital, Floating Point, and Ridgeline Partners. (TechCrunch)

  • Blackbird, a NYC-based web3 loyalty platform for the hospitality industry, raised $11 million in seed funding. Participating investors include Union Square Ventures, Shine Capital, Multicoin Capital, Variant, Circle Ventures, and IAC. (CoinDesk)

  • Elpha, a NYC-based cyber insurance startup, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Canapi Ventures led the round and was joined by Stone Point Ventures, AXIS Capital, State Farm Ventures, The Hartford STAG Ventures, Fermat Capital Management, and EOS Venture Partners. (VentureBeat)

  • Qunnect, a Brooklyn-based quantum internet communications company, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Airbus Ventures led the round and was joined by Quantonation, SandboxAQ, NY Ventures, Impact Science Ventures, and Motus Ventures. (Newswire)

  • Revelio Labs, a NYC-based workforce intelligence company, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Elephant Partners led the round and was joined by Alumni Ventures, BDMI, K20 Ventures, Techstars, and Barclays. (TechCrunch)

  • October 10 – 16: Virtual & in-person: New York Tech Week, featuring events across the city hosted by General Catalyst, EmpireDAO, Brex, Carta, Innovatemap, Techstars, and more. See the full agenda and register here.

  • October 13: In-person: How to Survive and Thrive as a Startup, with Techstars managing director Jordan Fliegel and others. Hosted by La French Tech New York. Register here.

  • October 18: In-person and virtual: October Fundraising Workshop, with Silicon Valley Bank managing director Andrew Oddo, startup banking director Bo Ren, and market insights associate Liz Cahill. Register here.

  • October 22: In-person: Newlab Annual Open House Party, featuring member open studios, art and tech installations, food stands, open bar, and live performances. Register here.

  • October 24 – 25: In-person: SCNY Urban Tech Summit, with Tech:NYC executive director Jason Myles Clark, NYC Chief Climate Officer Louise Yeung, JustAir co-founder and CEO Darren Riley, and others. Hosted by Cornell Tech. Register here.

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