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How Miami's Mayor Hopes to Build a New (and Crypto-Friendly) Silicon Valley (nymag.com) 80

Posted by EditorDavid from the Miami-virtue dept.
Miami is a city "that unblushingly loves rule-breaking and money," according to a new article in New York magazine, wondering whether Miami could ever really replace Silicon Valley as "a more natural home — and maybe even an accelerant — for the next generation of disruption fiends." On December 4, Delian Asparouhov, a venture capitalist in San Francisco, posted, "ok guys hear me out, what if we move silicon valley to Miami," and Miami mayor Francis Suarez, lying in bed at home in Coconut Grove, replied, "How can I help...?" Ever since, Suarez has been on a mission to rebrand Miami — long a place to spend money, rather than earn it — as a haven for founders who feel underappreciated in more calcified urban climes. He bought (with money from a venture capitalist) billboards in San Francisco featuring his Twitter handle and an invitation to "DM me." As he put it, "I saw the tsunami coming, got out my surfboard, and started paddling."

The flood of new Miamians who have arrived, full or part time, during the pandemic includes tech investors (Peter Thiel, David Sacks), cryptocurrency bulls (Anthony Pompliano, Ari Paul), new-media tycoons (Bryan Goldberg, Dave Portnoy), start-up founders (Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Steven Galanis), and many more who aren't yet billionaires but think the Magic City will give them their best shot... The boom is visible in the city's crane-spiked skyline, too, with deals for Spotify, Microsoft, Apple, and TikTok either signed or in the offing. In greater South Florida, a related incursion by the finance industry — Goldman Sachs, Citadel, Elliott — is in full swing... In July, according to Redfin, Miami was the top migration destination for home buyers in the U.S., while San Francisco had the largest homeowner exodus. Suarez told me about a playful text he recently received from the mayor there, London Breed: "Stop stealing my techies." He says he replied, "Sorry, London, I love you, but no."

Already, Suarez has made gains in turning Miami into the most cryptocurrency-friendly city in the U.S. In the past six months, the world's largest bitcoin conference happened here; a crypto exchange called FTX paid $135 million for the naming rights to the NBA arena (edging out the hometown porn studio BangBros); and a city-sanctioned currency called MiamiCoin debuted, generating millions in fees for municipal coffers. Suarez also accepts campaign contributions in bitcoin. He's running for reelection this November and looks certain to win, thanks in part to hefty donations and cheerleading from Silicon Valley eminences...

The tech case for Miami isn't wholly persuasive. (The most notable local start-up is a company that sells kibble.) But it is infectious.
The article notes, for example, that "For all his enthusiasm, Suarez acknowledges that a robust tech ecosystem needs one thing he can't simply market into existence: a standout university" (with a world-class engineering department to fuel startups). Suarez's solution appears to be offering Miami land parcels to Florida Polytechnic University for a possible satellite campus teaching DeFi/crypto/blockchain/NFT technologies.

The article also points out the possibility of global warming-induced hurricanes and rising sea levels, the city's widening income gap and rising cost of living, and Miami's record number of pediatric-ICU COVID admissions.
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How Miami's Mayor Hopes to Build a New (and Crypto-Friendly) Silicon Valley More

How Miami's Mayor Hopes to Build a New (and Crypto-Friendly) Silicon Valley

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  • Are they serious? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bjwest ( 14070 ) on Saturday October 02, 2021 @05:37PM (#61854687)
    Most in the tech world believe in science, why would they EVER move to Florida?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by rossdee ( 243626 )

      Well there's still Cape Canaveral, with its space industry

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by bjwest ( 14070 )

        Well there's still Cape Canaveral, with its space industry

        That has been there since 1949, long before the current anti-science nut jobs took over the state government. Luckily, it's a federal operation, so the Florida government has little say on what goes on there. Businesses, on the other hand, have to follow whatever the state government tells them.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by pacinpm ( 631330 )

          So it takes an hour or more to move a mile or two when commuting to and from work, and there's no escape, no other way other than cars to get from A to B in the majority of cases.

          A mile? You can walk that.

    • Re:Are they serious? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Saturday October 02, 2021 @05:49PM (#61854719)

      No tech hub has ever emerged in a city without a world-class research university. UF is in Gainesville, north of Orlando, over 300 miles away. USNWR rates UF at #28.

      Also, focusing on crypto is just chasing a fad.

      If the mayor wants Miami to be a tech hub, he should improve the education pipeline. If he starts now, Miami might be ready in 20 years.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Moryath ( 553296 )

        Worse than a fad, this seems like a repetition of the dumbness involved when companies randomly added 'blockchain' to their names [cnbc.com] to pump and dump their stock prices?

        It's like the cryptocurrency world couldn't be any more obvious that it's just a scam.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          Indeed. But there are _still_ tons of morons that fall for the crypto-"currency" scam, and hence scammers all over the place use it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hey! ( 33014 )

        FIU is a Carnegie level R1 University, which means a doctoral degree granting institution which conducts *very* high levels of research -- accounting for about $200 million a year in total research spending. It has about 17,000 *graduate* students. It might not be MIT (it's way bigger for one thing), but it's not Nazarene Bible College.

        It's in "University Park" -- a heavily-developed but unincorporated area of Miami-Dade just to the west of Miami. It's about a ten minute drive from the airport. As I reca

      • Unlike New Orleans, in Florida levees and seawalls don't work because the ground itself is porous and permeable. They are already having neighborhoods flood at "king tide" and relatively small storm surges. Very soon it will become impossible to get flood insurance for a property in southern Florida, and with that the next following flood will see a mass exodus.

      • Thats a great observation. In my home city, theres been a couple of attempts at building a mini silicon-valley type precinct. One on a big section of land attached to one of the big universities, the other in an industrial area.

        The industrial area one never took off. There was a few companies move in at first, Fujitech I think was the biggest, but now days its mostly just auto mechanics, warehouses with angry sound banging-metal machines.

        The other one thrived, because the university built some facilities in

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by suss ( 158993 )

      Geriatric tech people would probably be okay with it.
      Also, cheaper coke?

    • To create more tech-y versions of Florida Man? I mean, we've seen pretty much anything lowbrow already, it's time for a higher class of stupid.

      • To create more tech-y versions of Florida Man?

        Although Floridian males appear to be stupider than males living in other states, this is just an example of selection bias. Florida has very strong freedom of information laws, so reporters have nearly immediate access to reports of people arrested for idiotic behavior.

        Florida Man [wikipedia.org]

        60 times Florida Man did something crazy [boredpanda.com]

        • I would disagree on the basis that the climate is a major factor. Nobody can think straight in that climate.

          The other end of the extreme is the constant dark of e.g. Finland and northern Russia. They drink heavily. And this too causes stupid behavior.

          So you gotta find the sweet spot. And make sure it's not too wet either. Frankly, I think central Europe being mostly in that sweet spot, has been a major factor to its success.

          But of course I will agree that it's just one factor. We Germans sure had plenty of

    • Never underestimate the power of hurricanes, alligators and old Jews.

    • - Warmer beaches than Silicon Valley.
      - Cuban food.
      - Less "government regulation" telling you to keep your workers safe, pay a living wage, etc.

    • Because they believe in science, duh. What scientific evidence is there for the lockdowns and mandates where they came from?

    • > Most in the tech world believe in science, why would they EVER move to Florida?

      to get out of the desert?

    • Milwaukee was not so pleased with its crypto experience. Cryptosporidium is a microscopic parasite that causes the diarrheal disease cryptosporidiosis. Both the parasite and the disease are commonly known as âoeCrypto.â There are many species of Cryptosporidium that infect animals, some of which also infect humans.
    • Great question. Let’s ask those that moved to Texas because I’m honestly curious too.

    • Most in the tech world believe in science, why would they EVER move to Florida?

      Yeah, bu we are talking about "DeFi/crypto/blockchain/NFT technologies". That's the area of "tech" not believing in basic math. The ones that do know about basic differential equations, and are not malevolent, have left that area 10 years ago when it became obvious that it could never achieve its goals.

    • PROTIP: The entire damn point of science, is that YOU DO NOT BELIEVE! ... You can check! ... You have reliable evidence! :)
      I'm gonna assume that's what you meant. But please don't say such a thing. It enables the nutters to go "Science is just another belief/religion".

      And I'm gonna add: We also need a clear head! So why would we move to a place where it's permanently too hot and too humid and our home is wrecked by a hurricane every other year? ;)

      (That weather, to me, entirely explains the craziness going o

    • It's not scientific to judge an entire state based on the actions of a few politicians

  • You can have it. If greed is your biggest motivation, it might be a good choice. For quality of life, not so much.

    • Also, if you want to just murder random people. Just "stand your ground". Even 2 miles outside of your ground.

  • Fix the non-competes first (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BarneyGuarder ( 44042 ) on Saturday October 02, 2021 @05:49PM (#61854717)
    If you want to replicate Silicon Valley, people need to be able to move around and start their own companies. Employee non-compete agreements are void in California. They are enforceable with some limitations in Florida. Even if you ultimately win, the threat of legal action will prevent people from trying new things. Sure Silicon Valley has a lot of stupid start-ups, but some of those crazy ideas turn into great ideas. Onerous non-competes lets entrenched companies dominate.

    Of course, stealing trade secrets is always illegal. However, a vibrant and fractious employment economy is part of what makes (made?) Silicon Valley an innovation hub.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Octorian ( 14086 )

      This is the one factor nearly every big-shot putting out a press release on "creating a new Silicon Valley elsewhere" seems to be completely and utterly oblivious to.

  • It's perfect. Of course you need crypto currency experts in Miami. How else are all those major drug dealers going to get, and scrub, their drug money? Clearly they're paying too much for this now, but if you had local talent you could threaten directly you can not only ensure none of them will squeal to the authorities, but you can get'em cheaper as well!

  • I can't understand the tech migration statistic. Can someone translate it into kilos of Adderall/hour?

  • Gee, sure is nice to see somebody benefit from that 120 billion a month bailout. Pandemics can be very profitable.

    But Miami? They going to build everything on floating barges?

  • The only kind of technology that thrives in Florida is chemistry and biochemistry.

  • Plenty of blackouts and power-surges. I think it may lead the nation in lightning strikes.

    Is your app sticky? No. It's hot and sticky.

    • I have been to Florida exactly once. A trip from Myakka back to Tampa was like driving between two capacitor plates where I was the dielectric defect. My hotel had 3 cm of water on the ground floor, room service trays accumulating in hallways, expensive valet parking exposed to weather, no valets, bright lights blinking in the room smoke detector (maybe it was an On Camera light) and a contactor in the HVAC unit that went CLACK at random intervals through the sleepless night. The fucking stoplights are si
  • Moving Maimi to a State with a sane pandemic-response would be a good start.
  • oops, Dex's code won't let him kill unless the people who deserve it actually kill someone. Taking away someone's livelihood doesn't count.

    I really need to rewatch that series again, the only season that sticks in my head is the Trinity Killer. John Lithgow went Alf's dad to scary as fuck dude, I remember one scene where he went from happy family man to homicidal killer within 1 second with just a look. Superb acting.

    • Why doesn't Your Honorable Judge Dexter kill himself then?
      He's been a murderer alright, hasn't he?

  • The next installment of failure to move the valley (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jeff4747 ( 256583 ) on Saturday October 02, 2021 @07:06PM (#61854861)

    The things that made Silicon Valley were:

    - Stanford
    - Berkley
    - A lot of other smaller, but quite good schools
    - California's higher education policy in the 1960s and 1970s (TL:DR- free-to-almost-free state universities)
    - Xerox PARC and similar research institutions pouring money into research

    That resulted in a whole lot of extremely well educated people and money in a concentrated area, where a ton of startups could easily form.

    If you want to make a new Silicon Valley, you're going to need more than one world-class university to supply a constant stream of very good talent, you're going to need to make degrees affordable enough that lots of people get degrees, and some industry giants funding R&D at your new location. If you don't have the universities and stream of students, you're not going to get the funding.

    And a satellite campus teaching today's buzzwords is not multiple world-class universities.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      As mentioned in the article, schools are important. California and Texas have a number of good schools, and a large percentage of engineers. However there are also other factors. Cheap and politically correct electricity. Austin is a hub as Texas is 20% wind, comparable to California Wind and Solar. Florida has great solar potential, but is only at about 4% potential.

      However another factor may be who lives there. Austin is the only large city in Texas that has white non-Hispanics as the majority minority

    • Alright, here's a controversial point: Colleges aren't as important as they once were. Good colleges have two main goals: Education, and networking. You could make a strong argument that the internet, to some extent, fulfills both goals, and while people will need to be a bit more self directed, ultimately you don't necessarily need a bunch of buildings that people need to get to in order to educate and network people anymore.

      • The claim that the world-class universities aren't actually important anymore has been made for decades, with various justifications for how people would get "good enough" educations.

        Yet every attempt to actually enact that plan and build a new Silicon Valley keeps failing. The only ones that are somewhat successful are Raleigh-Durham and Austin...which have world-class universities feeding new graduates to them.

        Yeah, it's possible to get a "good enough" education and be personally successful, but you're s

  • Homestead protection (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dsgrntlxmply ( 610492 ) on Saturday October 02, 2021 @07:20PM (#61854889)
    Florida's exceptional "homestead" protection of a primary residence and its land against many creditor claims, makes it attractive to wealthy public figures who are likely to be sued, and to every sort of grifter, grafter, parasite, and well-laundered criminal. One in particular comes to mind. I would be very skeptical about investing in any Florida company, or in any company whose executives live in Florida. Florida business is best experienced as fiction, by viewing the Crackle series StartUp.
    • But, the Miami area is basically out of land. You can see it at a glance from the air. Wall-to-wall homes, then protected swamps. The only way they can grow is up. You can't protect what you can't build. Turning Miami into a new Silicon Valley would result in a Silicon Valley with even worse housing problems than the existing one.

      • But, the Miami area is basically out of land. You can see it at a glance from the air. Wall-to-wall homes, then protected swamps.

        The whole fucking thing is a once and future salt marsh. The published altitude of Miami is currently 6.562' above sea level and the highest point in Miami is at a whopping 24'. Building anything non-temporary in Miami is a complete idiot move. Though frankly, that's true of most of Florida. I will be amazed if the whole thing isn't wiped off the map during my lifetime.

  • You're going to need another differentiator, Sillycon Valley VCs have been throwing money at everyone who can spell "blockchain" for 5+ years now.

  • Have fun mining bitcoin underwater.

  • Who wants to build in a city that's getting flooded more and more every day?

  • due to sea level rise?

  • Let's just remember what money _built_ Miami (as in, who originally invested into real estate). Seem to have worked out eventually.

  • Too hot, too humid, too rainy, and too many harmful hurricanes. Electronics require far dryer climate than subtropical Miami can offer.

  • Clearly posted so we can laugh at the idea (Score:3)

    by couchslug ( 175151 ) on Sunday October 03, 2021 @09:15AM (#61855983)

    Impressively stupid and there's no reason it should be "news".

    Florida is where old rich NON-techies go to die in MAGAland.

  • a few rich people (Score:3)

    by awwshit ( 6214476 ) on Sunday October 03, 2021 @09:31AM (#61855999)

    A few rich people moving does not make a new tech hub. While I know many libertarian and conservative tech types I don't know any that want to move to Florida.

  • "Suarez's solution appears to be offering Miami land parcels to Florida Polytechnic University for a possible satellite campus teaching DeFi/crypto/blockchain/NFT technologies" : that's a great news ! DeFi has so much to offer us ...

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