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Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Business
Robert Channick

FTX collapse shakes up Chicago crypto market, where its US trading platform was going to be the next big thing

CHICAGO — When the FTX.US headquarters opened in a gleaming new Fulton Market tower in May, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her retinue stopped by to officially welcome the cryptocurrency exchange to Chicago, a city positioning itself as a financial center for the booming digital assets.

It was supposed to be the start of something big.

The Chicago office was christened as the inaugural home to the U.S. trading platform for Bahamas-based FTX, a startup that had rocketed into a $32 billion global cryptocurrency exchange and the poster child for Bitcoin bravado. Six months later, FTX imploded in a massive bankruptcy and Chicago’s would-be crypto flagship was just another empty office.

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