Written by: Patryk Krasnicki

Chicago isn’t top of mind when it comes to crypto hubs. Coindesk recently highlighted their selections for the top 15 crypto hubs of 2023. Based on their methodology, five cities in the U.S. made the cut. Chicago was not one of them. Which were?

• Wyoming, a trailblazer on the crypto regulatory front. The state has passed progressive laws providing legal clarity and support for blockchain and crypto-related businesses, attracting companies to set up their operations there.

• San Francisco, a thriving tech ecosystem that has expanded to include crypto and blockchain technology. The city has access to top engineering talent and venture capital firms like Andreesen Horowitz (a16z) and Sequoia Capital.

• Austin, a growing city filled with aspiring young talent. Organizations like ATX DAO promote the local crypto community, while Consensus has become the city's flagship crypto conference.

• Los Angeles, a trendsetter in art, fashion, music, and design whose culture has extended to crypto and NFTs. Entertainment giants like Fox, ViacomCBS, and Lionsgate have begun exploring the potential of NFTs through significant investments.

• New York, home to banks like Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon that have been pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into crypto investments. New York is also home to the BitLicense, which has served as the standard for any FinTechs hoping to provide crypto services across the U.S. The city is also home to Messari’s Mainnet Conference, one of the top crypto conferences in the U.S.

What about Chicago! We are yet to be featured on lists like these, but Chicago is the crypto hub of the Midwest, and we are growing fast. The past couple of years have seen our community grow like wildfire. We have a thriving Web3 creative ecosystem, highlighted by Imnotart’s physical presence and regular events. We have crypto-native startups like Flaunt popping up and bringing innovative ideas to life. We have crypto-specific venture funds like Decasonic enabling the startups. We have a community of over 100 volunteers contributing to creating an incredible annual crypto conference in ETHChicago that will foster real-world use cases for blockchain through its hackathon and educate legacy businesses on blockchain technology through its conference. Let’s glimpse into Chicago’s crypto community, shall we?

Imnotart

Imnotart melds the physical and digital spaces with a fantastic space that features an NFT gallery and hosts regular IRL events. Can’t make it there? View a digital representation of the space here! Imnotart fosters a creative community, with its events often revolving around art and NFTs. The organization also aims to educate the Chicago community at large about blockchain and NFTs. The space has open hours every day from 12-4 PM for anybody to drop in, take a look at the community’s art, and chat!

Decasonic

Decasonic is a digital asset venture fund focused on building blockchain innovation and advising the projects they invest in. The fund invests in pre-seed and seed stage opportunities, participates in public and private token sales, and invests in liquid cryptocurrencies and NFTs. In July 2023, Decasonic hosted its second annual Web3 Investor Day. The day consisted of several panels and presented opportunities for attendees to network with prominent capital allocators, innovators, and Web3 leaders.

GFX Labs

GFX Labs is a multi-faceted blockchain research and development company. A true unsung hero in web3. GFX has shown its excellence in areas such as product development, launching Interest Protocol, Web3 Sheets, and most recently Oku Trade, an innovative front-end for Uniswap V3 funded by the Uniswap Foundation. In governance, they have been consistently setting the bar with active roles in Uniswap, Maker, Optimism, Arbitrum, and more.

Flaunt

Flaunt is a local startup that launched in 2022 to provide an enterprise loyalty management solution that provides the unique benefits of blockchain for Web2 companies, their brands, and their relationships with customers. Flaunt helps these companies to distribute tradeable loyalty assets that reward customers with exclusive discounts, content, products, and experiences. These programs enable high-value community engagement by rewarding community participation.

ETHChicago

ETHChicago’s core team had the idea for this event in mid-2022. Over the last 12 months our founding team methodically expanded to include change-makers across the digital asset spectrum in Chicago. Throughout 2023, Chicago’s crypto community showed out in spades as talented individuals from various backgrounds and from all over the Chicagoland area banded together to form a volunteer group of over 100. It has been a massive experiment in coordination, as we have made ETHChicago a 100% community-led event. Everyone has leveraged their talents and networks to plan ETHChicago and side events, market the conference, gain partners, support hackers to compete in our hackathon, etc. We have big plans for the future of this event, and this group is making those plans a reality. Blockchain innovation in Chicago is here to stay.