Posted on 04/08/2022 6:03:37 AM PDT by blam
The Golden City is losing its shine as one of the largest United States-based cryptocurrency exchanges closes its San Francisco-based headquarters.
Kraken CEO, Jesse Powell retweeted that Kraken will close its global headquarters on 548 Market Street, in the center of San Francisco. In the retweet shared by a San Francisco-based political commentator, Richie Greenberg, the decision cites that:
“We shut down Kraken’s global headquarters on Market Street in San Francisco after numerous employees were attacked, harassed and robbed on their way to and from the office.”
Cointelegraph reached out to the Kraken team for comment and will update if and when they reply.
A poor advertisement for living in California’s financial center, the tweet also states that “San Francisco is not safe,” and crime is “dramatically underreported.”
BREAKING: KRAKEN CEO Jesse Powell @jespow today issued a statement regarding rampant crime in San Francisco and the failures of DA @chesaboudin . pic.twitter.com/7gx7PldQM0
— Richie Greenberg (@richieSF2016) April 7, 2022
U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will also close its San Francisco headquarters in 2022, however, no mention of crime or homelessness was made. Instead, Coinbase followed the lead of its competitor Binance in becoming a fully remote, global company.
The Twitter community was quick to respond to the Kraken news, sharing dark anecdotes of working in San Francisco.
I worked at Market St for few months, it is crazy, it turns into skid row after 6pm. I’m from Europe and never seen anything like it. Still have flashbacks of the things I witnessed. Just tried to look away and not get stabbed. Remember walking in the smell of skunk and pee.
— Markus (@markustallinn) April 7, 2022
The living situation is so dire that rhere are applications that track human waste around San Francisco, Snap Crap is among the most popular. The applications help San Franciscans navigate the city without puting their foot in it.
A San Francisco poop map. Source: arcgis.com
The Twitter and Reddit community comments shone a light on how soaring rental prices have made homelessness more common, while crime is “rampant.” The average rent is now roughly $3,000 a month, while the San Francisco Chronicle estimates that there are more than 18,000 homeless people in the city.
Related: Bolt to enable Bitcoin and NFT access via Wyre acquisition
A report in 2020 revealed that San Francisco and the surrounding zone, the Bay Area, boasted the highest concentrations of crypto investments. In light of Kraken’s decision, and the social crises in San Francisco, the hold on crypto and the future of finance may falter.
Other US cities and states have made clear their intentions to attract crypto capital: Texas, for example, hosts pro-Bitcoin Senator Ted Cruz, (BTC) while Web3 and crypto payments have been lauded by the mayor of Austin.
I honestly don’t know why anybody stays in San Francisco. Its incredibly expensive. Taxes are sky high. The place is a crime ridden, filthy dump.
That’s what decades of one party rule has turned one of America’s most beautiful cities into. The same is true of California which used to be the crown jewel of America.
I wonder what Liam Neeson would say about this?
The anti-Americans are getting the chaos they seek that will be the catalyst to usher in the United Nations police force and judicial system under the guise of bringing peace to our cities and justice to our courts.
This was the “nice” part of Market st., too. The bums and junkies always were down the street in the mid Market neighborhood. They’ve taken over the entire city now, obviously.
What were they thinking to begin with, locating their headquarters in San Francisco.
If I were to start up a business, I sure wouldn’t open it up in a liberal city like San francisco.
What a crying shame. Decades ago we lived in Mountain View and looked forward to frequent visits to “the city”. Although I haven’t been there in many years it’s sad to hear how far the place has descended to septic tank status.
Well yeah but, blow jobs are two for a quarter..! :)
And yet, San Francisco may well be America’s most liberal city. We are lectured that liberal policies are the cures to what ails America. These liberal cities should be crown jewels to show us how liberal and Democratic policies are so superior to “evil” Republican and conservative policies.
And yet, in the real world, liberal Democratic run cities are an embarrassment for anyone who wants to make such a political statement.
Release the Kraken.
What else would anyone expect from thugs who want to defund the police? And this is merely one of their brutal strategies.
Like Tiberius, they are "producing a viper", Caligula for the Roman People, Democrat politicians for the American People. The results will be the same!
Throughout history, when a population is faced with the grim choice between anarchy and tyranny, they have chosen tyranny. This is what the Democrats and their henchpersons are counting on. Their plan for America is tyranny, with themselves in control of it of course!
If the American People do not wake up--and fast!--their lives and the lives of their children are going to be too horrifying to contemplate!
They will find themselves under the heel of a viper far more horrifying than Caligula.
“It’s the job of the courts to declare legislation unconstitutional, not the governor.”
San Francisco is the emotional center of liberalism* and carries huge psychological significance. That’s the reason. The people still there have a picture in their heads of what it was, and, therefore, what it “is.” That picture stays the same even after a few negative incidents. (Stepping in poop. Being assaulted by bums but not being actually struck. Not being able to buy drugs because Walgreens has closed their stores.) To actually change that inner picture, it will usually take some actual pain...like a physical assault.
* The hippie version of liberalism, not the American Revolution version of liberalism.
There are now 4 states with ALL MAIL IN VOTING, CA., WA., OR., CO., ALL of them under Dem ONE PARTY RULE!! Why in the hell has this NOT BEEN investigated by the GOP it sure seems very odd to me that ALL MAIL IN VOTING creates ALL Dem rule just a coincidence I think NOT!!!
Yes - I worked right near there for 11 years in the 90's-00's and only remember hearing about one violent attack on a coworker during that whole time. Homeless were around, but were overwhelmed by the daily influx of commuters. Obviously now that everyone is working at home, the ferals have taken over.
548 Market Street
I have family in the area and visit frequently - last time I was there, we were riding bikes around the city and had to ride down Market Street to get where we were going - once we hit Market, I was struck by the VERY strong smell of urine -that didn't dissipate until we were well off of that street - it was horrible. I told my family to never take me there again.
I wonder what Dirty Harry Callahan would say about this.
My mother is from right outside the area - she told me she remembered a time when they didn’t go “into the city” without first dressing up, gloves and everything. It was very formal and classy then.
I’m old enough to remember when San Francisco dealt with their homeless problem by buying them one-way plane tickets to Honolulu.
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