OK Coin – a popular and large digital currency trading platform – has agreed to take up office space in downtown San Jose, part of the Silicon Valley in northern California. The region is known for hosting a wide array of many of the world’s leading tech companies including Apple, Facebook, and Google.
OK Coin Leases Large San Jose Office Space
The office address is 160 W. Santa Clara St. and consists of 35,000 square feet. In other words, it’s pretty darn big. OK Coin appears to be one of several crypto companies now looking to stage a physical comeback of sorts.
The coronavirus pandemic hit industries all over the world, and crypto was no exception. Many of the world’s leading digital currency platforms – including Coinbase, Kraken, and others – called regions such as San Francisco home, but were ultimately made to close their physical offices after the pandemic began. From there, several have worked to maintain physical presences, but this has been rather difficult. A lot of them now only employ remote workers.
This has caused several problems for these companies in that they no longer have valid customer service departments, and if they do, they are hard to get a hold of given the displacement situations surrounding those departments.
Coinbase, for example, is now being hit with a class-action lawsuit after a customer’s account was hacked. The client claims he tried very hard to get in touch with Coinbase, but its lack of customer service abilities made it nearly impossible to do so. He’s now filing suit against the crypto giant, claiming little was done to assist in the recovery of his stolen assets.
Mark Ritchie – president of Ritchie Commercial, a real estate leasing company – says that he’s excited by the presence of OK Coin in the downtown area. He says the whole region has looked like something of a ghost town given how many businesses have had to close their doors in the wake of COVID, and he’s hoping the area starts bouncing again soon. He said:
It’s good to get a fresh office tenant to move into downtown San Jose. This is a significant office lease for downtown San Jose. Hopefully it’s the first of many.
It’s estimated that OK coin will be able to employ close to 200 people with a lease this size. Bob Staedler – principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy – explained in an interview:
The downtown San Jose office market is poised for a comeback. The improvement in the market is real and it is sustainable.
Is Crypto Making a Physical Comeback?
Already, OK Coin is moving into the office. Scott Knies – executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association – said:
This is great to see. What downtown San Jose needs more than anything is people, especially people back in the offices.