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Comment by johnnydoebk | Hacker News Reader

Sorry for a stupid question but I have to ask. Why everyone is so desperate to start a company and locate it physically in the US? Is it just because of VC money? Wouldn't any safe place with good laws and easy immigration policy do? I don't take seriously Blockchain projects (and consider most of them blatant scam) and they are relatively small now. But longterm can this model solve the part about VC money?

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I'd wager it's the pre-existing culture of Silicon Valley that attracts startups. Kind of like a tech Mecca, it's got a magnetic pull based on "if you want to succeed you need to be based here". With VCs etc operating out of there it does actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As to the blockchain and ICO model, the problem is the current lack of regulation, leaving the burden of research to the buyer. I expect this will change relatively soon (places like New York, India and Singapore are already trying to introduce legislation regarding this) and then we might see more of an uptick, but you still need to get people out of the almost 40 year old mindset now that "Silicon Valley is where startups have to be to make it big".

Not an easy task I'd say.

Risk appetite of investors and access to such investors matter a lot.

And the US has a few cities with many such investors, which makes it easier to reach many in a short duration.

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