Quick take:
- EmpireDAO is leasing 36,000 square feet in Manhattan to create the WeWork of Web3.
- The team wants to build a unique co-working space of crypto builders.
- Visitors will be able to rent “hotdesks” or individual use with membership sold as NFTs comparable to WeWork.
EmpireDAO has announced plans to create a coworking space tailor-made for crypto builders. The team behind the decentralised autonomous organisation is leasing 36,000 square feet across six floors in a Manhattan flat to create the WeWork of Web3.
The organisation was founded by entrepreneur Mike Fraietta last October and opened its physical offices on Tuesday in New York. EmpireDAO has created a separate corporate entity to rent the building.
EmpireDAO is following the footsteps of other DAOs that have targeted real-life businesses, including PizzaDAO, which is on a mission to own a chain of physical restaurants.
Fraietta told CoinDesk last month that although the thrill of working online is exciting, something special comes out of meeting in person.
Former Brooklyn Nets player Lance Thomas, one of EmpireDAO’s lead investors echoed Fraietta’s comments saying “people want the option to work remotely but they also crave community.”
People will be able to buy membership using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) priced in a similar range to WeWork and rent “hotdesks” for individual use.
However, Fraietta remains flexible about the types of cryptocurrencies that may be used to purchase the membership, telling CoinDesk that anything that has liquidity is acceptable, as long as, it is crypto native.
Solana Foundation has already expressed an interest in becoming one of the early customers of the crypto-only co-working space according to Austin Federa, head of communications at Solana Labs.
Fraietta thinks that the idea could eventually be adopted globally in the coworking space, serving as a crucial proof-of-concept protocol.
EmpireDAO’s strategy also has non-concrete plans for an art gallery, “a DAO-sponsored Peloton room, a series of educational courses for members and a virtual reality environment where remote workers partake in the metaverse,” among others.
DAOs were last year tipped to be the trendiest buzzword of 2022, following the successes of NFTs and the Metaverse during the second half of last year. It is fair to say, so far, they have not disappointed, thanks to organisations like PizzaDAO and now EmpireDAO.
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