20 Top Innovators Building The Chicago Crypto And Web3 Ecosystem
By Cami Darling, Published May 18, 2022
More on Chicago's booming Crypto and Web3 ecosystem featured here in Forbes.
Innovation is diversifying geographically. Silicon Valley is a mindset, and nothing proves this more than the crypto and web3 innovation accelerating in the city of Chicago, the midwest, and broadly areas outside of traditional tech centers.
Recently Paul Hsu and I had the opportunity to co-author an article in Forbes with principal of HPA Pete Wilkins, which recognizes all of the great work our neighbors have been building for both the city and their careers. Many, including Rumi Morales, Colleen Sullivan, Joe Hernandez, Alexandra (Lexy) Prodromos and Matthew Roszak were pioneers, as early as 2013, in setting the foundation for the early blockchain ecosystem here in Chicago.
Many many more are the day to day builders, heads down tinkering on the next set of ideas that will transform the world. Some enjoy the spotlight, most just want to build the substance that deserves the market success while finding signals through the noise. We are just lucky enough to have the platform to recognize them.
Some of the many leaders featured in the article include:
Digital Assets Infrastructure:
Brett Harrison at FTX US, Ed Tilly at Cboe, Kanav Kariya & Sach Chitnis at Jump Crypto, Kimberly Trautmann, CFA at DRW VC, Nate George at Cumberland
Capital Providers:
Imran K. at Alliance DAO, my colleagues Alejandro Ballesteros Cruz & Cameron Darling at Decasonic, Andrew Steinwold & Dan Patterson at Sfermion, Colleen Sullivan & Peter Johnson at BH Digital
Innovative Companies:
Matthew Dixon & Nick at CoinFX, Ben Weiss at CoinFlip, the core devs and incubated companies at Solana Labs Chicago Hacker House, Daniel Gunsberg & Rob Levy at HXRO,
Service Providers:
Alex Nadeau & Evan Pollock at Objective Paradigm, Tony Coglianese and Brad Serot at CBRE, Michael Frisch & Paige Bolinger at Croke Fairchild
Public and Non-Profit Entities:
The blockchain club led by Zayyan Faizal at UIUC, Margaret Croke in the IL Assembly, Abin Kuriakose and Michael Fassnacht at the World Business Chicago, Brad Henderson at P33, Gabriella Kusz at GlobalDCA
and of course, the list continues to grow…
With the pleasure of networking and collaborating with many of these individuals, we are proud to attest to the ultra friendly midwest demeanor of these well intentioned, high quality innovators.
Read more on the booming Crypto and Web3 ecosystem in The City that Works here:
