Tech and Crypto Alignments

Financial and technology organizations in Chicago have had a busy first quarter of events. This issue links to stories on alignment and community building in cryptoasset, wealth tech, and payments markets.

Can Chicago Become a Crypto Capital?
David Carman and George Vukotich, co-founders of the FinTank incubator, are pursuing a vision of Chicago as a center of cryptoasset trading. More than 120 other FinTech professionals and the Mayor of Chicago share it enough to spend a couple of hours discussing how a city can lead a market. “Nation states are falling apart,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. “City states are emerging.”

New Solutions to Old Problems in Today’s WealthTech Ecosystem
Aligning business with technology can be daunting. The ever-present drumbeat of advancement can be hard to keep up with, particularly in the face of institutional inertia. But, implemented well, FinTech represents a real opportunity for all financial businesses big and small to not only keep ahead of client and shareholder expectations, but also to meet them more easily. Speakers at an Asset / WealthTech seminar sponsored by Morningstar and Plug and Play – the Silicon Valley startup accelerator – went a step further, painting a picture of a future in which financial technologies will not only be vital to the success of large businesses, but also give smaller dealers the ability to perform well above their weight class.

Chicago Payments Startups Tackle the Tough Problems
Solutions presented at the February Chicago Payments Forum meetup focused on credit-card fraud, accounts receivables, merchant access, and consumer identity. Four Chicago-based startups presented to about 50 professionals with interests across the payments ecosystem, including bankers, startup founders, investors, lawyers, and marketers.

Three FinTech Themes for 2019
Chicago’s Hyde Park is a world away from LaSalle St., the city’s financial center. On Feb. 15, I ventured to the Polsky Center at the University of Chicago for a panel of FinTech startups and investors as part of its excellent Entrepreneurial Outlook 2019 series. Panelists identified three points of focus for FinTech startups in 2019.

Built in Chicago Shines Spotlight on Rising FinTech Startups in 2019
The Built in Chicago website recently put out its feature on the 50 rising startups to watch this years in the Chicago area. Read the article to see the stand-out FinTech crowd.