United

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<p><em>Medical marijuana vendors in Seattle happily accept crypto, residents dont need to file income tax returns, and the governor signed a law expanding the states adoption of blockchain technology but isnt a fan of crypto mining. Coinme and Bittrex are headquartered in the city, and a few Binance servers are located here, too, which is how CZ got charged in the state and sent to prison. And thats just the tip of the iceberg for crypto in Seattle. <br></em></p>
<p><strong>Fast facts</strong><br>City: Seattle<br>Country: United States<br>Population: 3.5 million<br>Founded: 1851<br>Most common languages: English</p>
<p><br><strong>Jump to:</strong> <a href="#crypto" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Crypto Culture</a>, <a href="#projects" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Projects and companies, </a><a href="#financial" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Financial infrastructure, </a><a href="#where" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Where can I spend crypto?</a><a href="#education" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self"> Education</a>, <a href="#controversies" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Controversies and collapses, </a><a href="#notable" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Notable figures in Seattle Metropolitan area and former residents</a></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-left" id="tell-me-about-seattle">Tell me about Seattle…</h2>
<p>The largest city in Washington is the gateway to the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.</p>
<p>It is known for its liberal use of a certain green plant, the headquarters of Amazon, and is the setting for iconic movies such as <em>Sleepless in Seattle</em> and <em>The Ring,</em> as well as the TV sitcom <em>Frasier</em>. Several professional sports teams are based in the city, including the Mariners, Seahawks and Kraken the hockey players, not the cryptocurrency exchange. In the 1990s, it was the spiritual home of Grunge music.</p>
<p>Many tourists visit Seattle to see the original Starbucks location and the surrounding Pike Place Market, which contains the famous gum wall. However, most know the city for its distinct skyline, which features the Space Needle, built for the 1962 Worlds Fair. Like the nearby capital of Olympia, Seattle stands out for its network of ferries to islands in the connecting Puget Sound and access to Vancouver, Canada by highway and rail.&nbsp;</p>
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 <img width="600" height="338" src="https://s3.magazine.cointelegraph.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Photo-of-Seattle-Skyline.jpg" alt="Photo of Seattle Skyline" style="width: 100%;height:auto">
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  <em>Photo of the Seattle skyline. (Chait Goli)</em>
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<p>Rain and overcast skies often cloud impressions of Seattle, but the area is considerably greener than many US cities. Native American influence is seen in the names of many neighborhoods and surrounding areas. Superfans of the young adult novel series <em>Twilight</em> often visit, drawn by the nearby town of Forks.</p>
<p>Lake Washington separates the downtown area from the cities of Bellevue and Redmond, where the headquarters of Nintendo of America and Microsoft<strong> </strong>are located. Taking Interstate 5 north leads to Boeings manufacturing facilities in the nearby town of Everett. As with many US cities, Seattle faces challenges with a high cost of living and a large homeless population.&nbsp;</p>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="crypto">Seattles c<strong>rypto culture</strong></h2>
<p>Washington is one of only a handful of states that does not require residents to file personal income tax returns. While the urban areas tend to lean left, many conservatives are based in the eastern parts of the state and scattered around cities like Seattle.</p>
<p>Seattle, despite its reputation for modern left politics, has a solid anarchic/classical liberal bent, said Brandon Black, organizer of Seattle Bitcoin Meetup. I think people are attracted to that cultural leaning, as well as the casual/grunge social scene.</p>
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 <img width="600" height="398" src="https://s3.magazine.cointelegraph.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Seattle-Public-Market.jpg" alt="Seattle Public Market" style="width: 100%;height:auto">
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  <em>Seattle Public Market. (Amanda Grove)</em>
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<p>Governor Jay Inslee, though not known to be particularly pro- or anti-crypto, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/washington-state-passes-bill-aiming-to-expand-local-blockchain-adoption" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">signed a bill into law</a> in 2022 to expand the states adoption of blockchain technology.</p>
<p>The governor listed blockchain as one of the issues affecting the states economy but reportedly considered crypto mining firms to be an unnecessary use of electricity. The states Department of Financial Institutions has also issued alerts and cracked down on crypto firms allegedly operating illegally.</p>
<p>The Emerald City has been home to some small- and medium-sized crypto and blockchain conferences, including ETH Seattle, the BlockchainNW Summit, TF Labs blockchain conference, the Blockchain Seattle conference and NFT Seattle.</p>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="projects"><strong>Crypto projects and companies</strong></h2>
<p>Seattle has been attracting innovators since before personal computers existed. Luxury department store Nordstrom has been based in Seattle since 1901; William Boeing founded the aircraft (and now spacecraft) company with his namesake in 1916; and Microsofts decision to move to the Pacific Northwest in 1979 greatly contributed to the city becoming a major tech hub.</p>
<p>Seattle has been connected with Bitcoin from the very beginning, said Black. One of the earliest Bitcoin applications, Satoshi Dice, was developed here, and during previous bull runs, there has been a thriving cash Bitcoin trade between Seattle, Portland and Vancouver.&nbsp;</p>
<p>With the advent of cryptocurrency and blockchain, major firms headquartered in Silicon Valley, including Block, Gemini and BitGo, have regional offices or staff in Seattle.</p>
<p>Cryptocurrency exchanges Coinme and Bittrex are headquartered in Seattle, and some of Binances servers are based in the area which unhappily for former CEO Changpeng Zhao led to prosecutors indicting him in the Western District of Washington.</p>
<p>Last year the Seattle team of crypto recovery firm Unciphered <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/recovery-firm-cracking-ripple-cto-bitcoin-hard-drive" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">offered to crack a hard drive</a> owned by former Ripple chief technology officer Stefan Thomas. The information to access the drive containing 7,002 BTC worth hundreds of millions of dollars was lost years ago, with only two access attempts remaining before the data is permanently erased.&nbsp;</p>
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 <img width="600" height="436" src="https://s3.magazine.cointelegraph.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Stefan-Thomas.png" alt="Stefan Thomas">
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  <em>(Stefan Thomas)</em>
 </figcaption>
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<p>Other companies based in the Emerald City, both past and present, include crypto startup Stably, analytics firm WeMeta Labs, crypto and cashback rewards company StormX, Bitcoin mining firm Luxor, cryptocurrency custodian Protego and Omni Foundation, the firm backing the Omni Network.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="financial"><strong>Crypto financial infrastructure</strong> in Seattle</h2>
<p>In May 2014, Coinme operated one of the first Bitcoin ATMs in the United States at the Spitfire Grill in the Belltown area of Seattle. The restaurant has since closed, but dispensary firm American Green <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-friendly-cannabis-vending-machines-makes-historic-debut-in-seattle" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">launched its own medical marijuana</a> vending machine in 2015 that accepted Bitcoin at a time when both were testing new legal ground.</p>
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 <img width="600" height="935" src="https://s3.magazine.cointelegraph.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Adam-Cypher.png" alt="Adam Cypher">
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  <em>(Adam Cypher)</em>
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<p>As of June 2024, Coinme listed more than 400 locations in the Seattle Metropolitan Area where one can buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, including Coinstar machines and Moneygram.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="where"><strong>Where can I spend crypto in Seattle?</strong></h2>
<p>Coinme lists several locations where crypto users can exchange Bitcoin for goods and services, including cafes, furniture stores and moving companies. One aspect that is somewhat unique to Seattle is the number of cannabis retailers able to accept crypto in exchange for green. Kush21 near SeaTac Airport is one such location, and ZaZZZ marijuana vending machines debuted in 2015, allowing purchases in crypto.</p>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="education">Education</h2>
<p>The University of Washington, with its main campus north of the downtown area, has had a Blockchain Society active since 2018, with membership numbering in the hundreds.<br><br>Nicolas Cary, who went on to co-found Blockchain.com, graduated from the University of Puget Sound (UPS) in nearby Tacoma, gifting the college with 14.5 BTC worth roughly $10,000 at the time. UPS was one of the first universities in the country to accept donations in crypto.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full">
 <img width="800" height="340" src="https://s3.magazine.cointelegraph.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/University-of-Washington-Blockchain-Society-.png" alt="University of Washington Blockchain Society">
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  <em>(University of Washington Blockchain Society)</em>
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<p id="controversies"><strong>Controversies and collapses</strong></p>
<p>In November 2023, Changpeng Zhao was indicted and pleaded guilty to felony charges in the US District Court of the Western District of Washington for failing to maintain an effective Anti-Money Laundering regime at Binance while he was CEO.<br><br>Zhaos indictment and sentencing were both held in a Seattle courtroom, where a judge <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/changpeng-zhao-prison-facility-seattle" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ordered the former Binance executive</a> to four months in prison.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized">
 <img width="600" height="888" src="https://s3.magazine.cointelegraph.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Space-Needle.jpg" alt="Space Needle" style="width: 100%;height:auto">
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  <em>Space Needle. (Jose Cruz)</em>
 </figcaption>
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<p>In March 2024, officials with the US Justice Department charged semi-pro rugby player Shane Donovan Moore of the Westside Ronins with fraud over a scheme involving cryptocurrency mining equipment. Authorities alleged that he used his connections from his rugby activities to find investors.</p>
<p>In 2022, a former Coinbase Global product manager and his brother were arrested in Seattle on charges related to an insider trading scheme at the exchange. Ishan and Nikhil Wahi allegedly made $1.5 million from illegal trades by having advanced knowledge of which tokens Coinbase planned to list. The brothers were later sentenced to 24 and 10 months in prison, respectively.&nbsp;</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="notable"><strong>Notable figures in Seattle Metropolitan area and former residents</strong></h2>
<p>Microsoft co-founder and former CEO <strong>Bill Gates</strong>, best known for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkuJXGldrM" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">dancing</a> at the launch event for Windows 95; crypto author and educator <strong>Vijay Boyapati</strong>; ShapeShift founder and Satoshi Dice creator <strong>Erik Voorhees</strong>; Bitcoin Foundation founding member <strong>Charlie Shrem</strong>, who reportedly first explained BTC to the Winklevoss twins; <strong>Nicolas Cary</strong>, co-founder of Blockchain.com; Tornado Cash co-founder and developer <strong>Roman Storm</strong>.</p>
<p>If you have any suggestions for additions to this guide, please contact <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">turner@cointelegraph.com</a>.</p>
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Crypto City Guide to Seattle: Site of CZ’s downfall and pot crypto vendors

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