The Silicon Valley-based Plug and Play Tech Center accelerator will expand its crypto and digital assets vertical to France, the company announced on April 25.
Since 2016, Plug and Play has had an office in Paris, where it engages in verticals such as retail, fintech, smart cities, and sustainability.
Plug and Play has over 50 offices in at least 20 countries, including Paris. The announcement quotes Maximillian Jungreis, the manager of the crypto and digital assets at Plug and Play, as saying that:
“I am thrilled to drive our expansion into new markets like France where Plug and Play has built a strong ecosystem alongside key players like L’Oréal, PVH, Lacoste, etc. during the past six years.”
The French program will “help consumer businesses, retailers, and brands transition from Web2 to Web3 by educating them […] and introducing them to bespoke partnerships.”
Plug and Play claims to have over 500 corporate partners and 50,000 entrepreneurs in its network. Chainalysis and AVA Labs are both alumni of Play and Plug.
In 2013, Plug and Play entered the cryptocurrency industry with a Bitcoin accelerator. At that time, it also began mining its own Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin accelerator became the foundation of the company’s fintech vertical in 2022, from which crypto and digital assets were again separated.
France is gaining prominence in the cryptosphere. After receiving approval as a digital asset service provider in May 2022, Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, lauded the nation as “one of the most progressive and open-minded governments that could help develop pro-crypto regulations.”
Binance stated that it intended to “significantly scale” its operations there at the time.