Chicago entrepreneur Jimmy Odom, who co-founded local-delivery startup WeDeliver in 2012, is announcing his next startup this week: BitCap, short for Bit Capital Group, which aims to expand access to a cryptocurrency practice called mining. Former Chicago Bear Israel Idonije is a partner and investor.

Cryptocurrency miners build powerful computers that verify the validity of transactions made in currencies such as bitcoin and ethereum. Because the process helps strengthen the currency platforms, every successful validation earns its miner a service fee paid in cryptocurrency. Odom started mining two years ago as a hobby to pursue along with his 11-year-old son, and was astonished when his stash of cryptocurrency paid for his $3,000 mining computer in a month.

That was 2015, the same year Odom sold WeDeliver and joined the Rauner administration as a senior policy adviser. He left state government in May and is now the director of inclusive entrepreneurship at World Business Chicago, and is launching BitCap on the side with a full-time co-founder, Jimmy Thommes, and Idonije.

BitCap's debut follows the start of bitcoin futures trading at Cboe on Dec. 10. CME plans to follow suit with its own bitcoin platform on Dec. 18.

"Chicago is emerging as one of the crypto capitals, so this is the perfect time and the perfect environment to start this company," says Odom, 35.

BitCap serves as a frontier general store for cryptocurrency miners. It will build and operate custom computers for the miners, store the machines at its data center, then charge clients a $125 monthly maintenance fee. (The machines start at $3,250.) Thommes is handling the hardware and operations from a data center at an undisclosed location while Odom runs the sales side of the business in Chicago. BitCap has been in a private alpha phase since September and has 40 clients.

Even as cryptocurrency's profile is rising, the venture is risky. For one thing, the service fees associated with mining are declining as more miners flood the market. In addition, one leading cryptocurrency, ethereum, has signaled a plan to replace mining with an alternative means of transaction verification. Finally, there's security: NiceHash, a Slovenian cryptocurrency mining marketplace, was robbed of $78 million worth of bitcoin last week.

"There's plenty of volatility right now, but we see mining as the financial infrastructure of the future," Odom says.