Thank You

Oleksandr Bornyakov

Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

He assumed this role in October 2019 and since then has been fostering the growth of Ukraine’s IT industry. His efforts include the introduction of a unique tax and legal framework for IT companies, establishing comprehensive regulations around crypto assets, and developing startup and VC ecosystems, etc.

Bornyakov holds an MBA from the University of New Brunswick and an MPA from Columbia University. He possesses over 15 years of experience in the IT business.

Kristin Smith

CEO, Blockchain Association

Kristin runs Blockchain Association, where she leads the crypto industry’s development of a strategic roadmap for public policy. She is an experienced policy professional, with senior-level experience in both House and Senate offices as well as private sector experience advocating for companies in the telecommunications, Internet, and other tech-focused industries. Kristin holds an MBA in Finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a graduate degree from Georgetown University.

Cleve Mesidor

Executive Director, Blockchain Foundation

Cleve Mesidor is Executive Director of Blockchain Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit leading an industry-wide education campaign. Cleve is also a Forbes Contributor and a Mayoral appointee to the DC Innovation and Technology Inclusion Council. Previously, she was a Public Policy Advisor to the Blockchain Association.

 A web3 expert working in crypto for over six year, she has been profiled on CNBC, ABC, NPR, PBS, NY Times, Washington Post, Politico, TIME. She was featured in the PBS Documentary, “CRYPTO DECODED”, as well as, the Coinbase documentary, “COIN: A Founder’s Story.” Cleve is a respected industry leader and regularly headlines national tech conferences, including Money20/20, SXSW, CES, and others. On the global stage, she has spoken at Web3 and DeFi forums in Abu Dhabi, Toronto, Amsterdam, Bahamas.

Kevin O'Connor

Chief of the Virtual Assets and Emerging Technology Section of the Enforcement and Compliance Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

Kevin O’Connor is the Chief of the Virtual Assets and Emerging Technology Section of the Enforcement and Compliance Division within the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). He manages a dynamic team of technical experts and oversees numerous complex investigations of financial institutions to ensure their compliance with U.S. anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing laws and regulations. Kevin has played a critical role in the development of regulations, standards, and best practices for the supervision of virtual assets and virtual asset service providers domestically and internationally.

In over 14 years of public service, his work has earned the Secretary of the Treasury’s Honor Award, an award from Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) for his collaborative work on virtual assets, and TFI’s Outstanding Service Award. FinCEN named Kevin its 2018 Distinguished Employee of the Year.

Kevin earned his B.A. in Political Science from Providence College, and his M.A. in Government from the American University.

Christopher Wong

Supervisory Special Agent, FBI

Christopher Wong has worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for eight years, supporting many of the FBI’s most successful cryptocurrency cases. SSA Wong currently works in the FBI’s Virtual Assets Unit (VAU), spearheading efforts to reduce illicit activity in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. He has provided impactful, strategic support to counter North Korea’s illicit revenue generation through cryptocurrency-related crime. He has also investigated many other largescale cryptocurrency thefts. He regularly travels around the world to train law enforcement (LE), prosecutors, and judges from dozens of countries, building strategic relationships and the global LE community’s ability to combat cryptocurrency crime. Before joining VAU, SSA Wong worked as a Special Agent in FBI’s Chicago Division where he worked on cases related to intellectual property (IP) and China’s use of nation state actors to acquire IP. His efforts resulted in the indictment and designation of a number of North Koreans and key enablers supporting North Korea’s illicit revenue generation. SSA Wong was the FBI’s lead agent on the joint investigation that culminated in the arrest and successful prosecution of the individuals responsible for the 2016 Bitfinex heist. That investigation led to the seizure of approximately $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency, the largest US Government seizure to date. Before joining the FBI, SSA Wong served for 13 years as a Special Warfare Combat Crewman in US Naval Special Operations.

Jessica Peck

Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice

Jessica Peck is an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. She joined the Department in 2020 as a member of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS). As an attorney for CCIPS, she partners with other federal prosecutors from around the U.S. to investigate the actors behind cryptocurrency-related hacks/thefts, ransomware deployments, and darknet markets. Over the last three years, she has been part of a team focused on the disruption of North Korea’s cryptocurrency-related revenue generation. Ms. Peck is also CCIPS’s subject matter expert on automotive forensics and the acquisition of telematics data from third-party providers and is the head of the U.S. delegation for the G7’s High-Tech Crime Subgroup. Since June 2023, she has been working as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, focusing on cyber, money laundering, and cryptocurrency-related issues. Prior to joining the Department, Ms. Peck worked in the Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where she directed complex, multi-agency investigations into, among other things, cryptocurrency thefts, bank fraud, and business email compromises.

Christos Efthymiopoulos

Assistant Director, Supervision (Digital Asset), Bermuda Monetary Authority

Christos is a FinTech specialist within the Supervision (Digital Asset) Department at the Bermuda Monetary Authority (Authority or BMA). Mr Efthymiopoulos is responsible for regulation, licensing and supervision of the FinTech sector, particularly digital asset businesses and issuers. He is directly involved in developing, implementing and administering the legislative and regulatory frameworks under the Digital Asset Business Act 2018 and the Digital Asset Issuance Act 2020. Mr Efthymiopoulos is a legal professional with more than ten years of experience in the financial services industry, focusing on FinTech for the past six years, including two years at the BMA.

Prior to joining the Authority, Mr Efthymiopoulos worked at the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), where he was heavily involved in developing and implementing Malta’s legislative and regulatory Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) framework. He was, inter alia, responsible for regulating, licensing and supervising VFA Agents, VFA Issuers and VFA Service Providers. During his tenure, Mr Efthymiopoulos represented the MFSA at various European fora, including the European Banking Authority’s taskforce on crypto assets.

Allison Behuniak

Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion, House Committee on Financial Services - Chairman Patrick McHenry

Allison Behuniak is Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion for Chairman Patrick McHenry on the United States House Committee on Financial Services. Previously, Allison worked on the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets and the Task Force on Financial Technology. In these roles, she also served as the policy lead on issues related to digital assets.

Prior to joining the House Financial Services Committee, Allison served as Financial Services Legislative Assistant for Congressman Trey Hollingsworth and as Legislative Assistant for former Congressman Bruce Poliquin, handling a wide range of policy issues.

Allison began her career as an Advocacy Project Manager for the Florida Hospital Association. Before her time working for the U.S. House of Representatives, she worked as the Public Affairs Manager for the Direct Selling Association. Allison holds an MBA from Florida State University and a B.S. in Economics from the University of Central Florida.

Paul Balzano

Senior Professional Staff, House Committee on Agriculture

Paul Balzano has served as a professional staff member for the House Committee on Agriculture since 2014. His portfolio includes derivatives, digital commodities, and rural energy and development. He has contributed to numerous legislative initiatives, including the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, the Digital Commodity Exchange Act, and the 2018 Farm Bill. Prior to his time at the Committee, he served in the personal offices of Congressman Mike Conaway and Congressman Sherwood Boehlert. Paul is a 2005 graduate of the University at Buffalo.

Paul Clement

Partner, Clement & Murphy, PLLC;
43rd Solicitor General of the United States (2005-2008)

Paul Clement is a partner at Clement & Murphy, PLLC, and a Distinguished Lecturer in Law at the Georgetown University Law Center. Paul served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States from June 2005 until June 2008. He has argued over 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court. Paul is a graduate of Georgetown, Cambridge, and the Harvard Law School.

Michael Mosier

Partner, ex/ante

Michael Mosier is a partner in ex/ante, an early-stage venture fund investing in technology that advances democratic resilience and human agency.  He co-founded Arktouros legal boutique of former federal prosecutors dedicated to civil society and emergent technology.  He has twice been the first in-house counsel at tech companies:  Chainalysis blockchain analytics and Espresso Systems building configurable private computation.

In public service, Michael served as Acting Director, Deputy Director, and the first Digital Innovation Officer of the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), driving initiatives on privacy and digital identity to advance personal sovereignty within the financial system.  Previously, he served as Associate Director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).  Before Treasury, Michael was a Deputy Chief in the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering & Asset Recovery Section and served at the White House National Security Council as a Director.  He has been an adjunct professor (Advanced Evidence for Trial) at Georgetown University Law Center and began his public service as a prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Dritan Nesho

CEO, HarrisX

Dritan Nesho is an entrepreneur and business executive whose experience spans the corporate strategy, new technologies research (blockchain, IOT, and AI/ML), and the consumer technology, media, and telecommunications industries. He currently serves as the founding CEO of HarrisX, a leading research consultancy and data analytics company, that is part of the marketing sciences platform, Stagwell Inc. He is also the founder and chief technologist of Telephia, a consumer behavioral data platform, as well as a noted public opinion researcher affiliated with Harvard University, where he teaches. Dritan is an investor in MoonPay and was previously engaged with the  Stacks Foundation/ OKX Bitcoin Odyssey Fund.

Marta Belcher

President & Chair – Filecoin Foundation / Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web

Marta Belcher is the President and Board Chair of Filecoin Foundation and Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web and the General Counsel and Head of Policy at Protocol Labs. She also serves as special counsel to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Marta is a pioneer in cryptocurrency law and has spoken on the topic around the world, including in U.S. Congress, European Parliament, the New York Senate, the OECD, and in Davos during the World Economic Forum.

Marco Santori

Chief Legal Officer, Kraken

Known as the “Dean of Digital Currency Lawyers,” Marco is a recognized authority in the law and policy of blockchain technologies. Prior to his move to Kraken, Marco was the Chief Legal Officer of Blockchain.com, as well as a Partner at both Cooley LLP and Pillsbury Winthrop, where he counseled banks, broker-dealers and fintech companies making new and exciting uses of distributed ledger technology.

Julie Stitzel

Vice President of Public Policy, Digital Currency Group

Julie Stitzel is the VP of Public Policy for DCG, a company focusing on building and supporting bitcoin and blockchain companies by leveraging their insights, network, and access to capital. Prior to her time at DCG, Julie was the Head of Policy for Cash App and the Vice President of the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness at U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Bill Hughes

Senior Counsel and Director of Global Regulatory Matters, Consensys

Bill Hughes is Senior Counsel and Director of Global Regulatory Matters for Consensys, the leading Ethereum blockchain software company. Bill focuses on the diverse and ever evolving crypto global regulatory landscape, and the legal and public policy issues with which Consensys and the broader crypto ecosystem is grappling. Bill joined Consensys after serving as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice, where he managed, among other things, the Department’s work on prospective regulations, legislative proposals, and policies across a broad spectrum of legal and operational issues. He worked closely with the White House and other federal agencies on regulatory and policy initiatives and coordinated DOJ’s law enforcement response to COVID-19-related consumer fraud and money laundering. Bill began his career as a clerk for a federal judge in New York and litigating with the firm of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Bill received his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and his BA from Vanderbilt University.

Candace Kelly

Chief Legal Officer, Stellar Development Foundation

Candace Kelly is the Chief Legal Officer of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world’s financial infrastructure. At SDF, she leads legal, policy, and government relations, focused on bridging the gap between the public and private sectors, fostering dialogue and growing partnerships with global regulators and policymakers.Prior to joining Stellar, Candace worked for Uber Technologies, Inc., where she held a variety of positions, helping to navigate the company’s response to regulatory investigations and advising on safety, security, privacy, consumer protection, and law enforcement response. Candace brings her vast legal experience to SDF, most notably her 17 year career at the United States Department of Justice, where she held positions as a legal and policy advisor on national security, criminal, and civil rights issues in leadership offices in Washington D.C. and as a prosecutor in the Northern District of California.

Marvin Ammori

Chief Legal Officer, Uniswap

Marvin Ammori is the Chief Legal Officer of Uniswap, which has built the leading decentralized finance infrastructure. He was previously the general counsel and head of policy at cryptocurrency company, Protocol Labs, which launched Filecoin in 2020. He is the former General Counsel of Virgin Hyperloop One, where he was responsible for legal matters including global regulatory and political operations. Before his general counsel roles, he had his own law firm representing clients including Apple, Google, Dropbox, eBay, Automattic, Tumblr, Twitter, the National Association of Realtors, and others. In that role, he helped them overcome supposedly “impossible” odds on regulatory and legal issues of international significance, including net neutrality, privacy, and copyright. Ammori has been named to the POLITICO 50, Washingtonian Magazine’s “Tech Titans,” Fast Company Magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business,” and received the Nyan Cat Medal of Internet Awesomeness. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

Stuart Alderoty

Chief Legal Officer, Ripple

Stuart Alderoty is the Chief Legal Officer at Ripple, overseeing the legal, compliance and regulation departments. Stuart brings more than 30 years of legal experience to the role with expertise in financial services and regulatory affairs. He’s been General Counsel and part of the executive leadership teams at CIT Group and HSBC North America Holdings. Stuart also was Managing Counsel at American Express where he served on the leadership team of the President and CEO of American Express’ Consumer Card Business. Stuart began his career in private practice and was a partner with the international law firm of LeBouef, Lamb, Greene and MacRae where he specialized in complex litigation.

Paul Grewal

Chief Legal Officer, Coinbase

Paul Grewal is the Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase Global, Inc., where he is responsible for Coinbase’s legal, compliance, global intelligence, risk management and government relations groups. Before joining Coinbase, Paul was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Facebook. Prior to Facebook, Paul served as United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California. Paul was previously a partner at Howrey LLP. Paul served as a law clerk to Federal Circuit Judge Arthur J. Gajarsa and United States District Judge Sam H. Bell. He received his JD from the University of Chicago Law School and his SB from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Craig Salm

Chief Legal Officer, Grayscale Investments

Craig Salm is the Chief Legal Officer at Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital
currency asset manager. In this role, Craig oversees the daily legal and regulatory operations of
the business and its products. Prior to joining Grayscale, Craig was a corporate associate at
Paul Weiss and a member of its Capital Markets & Securities Group – primarily focused on
representing issuers, private equity sponsors, investment banks, hedge funds, and other
stakeholders in corporate finance transactions, as well as advising on securities law and
corporate governance matters. Craig earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of
Michigan and his Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Craig serves as a
board member of the Ethereum Classic Cooperative, as the co-chair of the Securities Law
Working Group for the Blockchain Association and is an active member of the Crypto Ratings
Council (CRC).

Robert Grant

Vice President, Global Head of Public Policy, Ripple

As the Vice President, Global Head of Public Policy, Robert spearheads Ripple’s legislative, regulatory, and policy priorities throughout the world. Robert joined Ripple after spending more than 20 years working in and with governments, having held leadership positions in the United States Senate, the Department of Treasury, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Most recently, Robert led the global policy efforts for the self-driving startup, Cruise, and was a policy executive at the ridesharing company, Lyft. Robert earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from Tulane University School of Law.

Vera Tzoneva

COO, CoinTracker

Vera Tzoneva is COO at CoinTracker, a company helping users calculate their crypto taxes and track their portfolio. Vera leads the Business teams including partnerships, corporate development, sales, marketing, and customer experience. Prior to CoinTracker, Vera was an executive at Google, leading partnerships for Search and Assistant. Vera is motivated by enabling a new financial system that creates worldwide financial access through decentralization. Vera lives in San Francisco and loves comedy, skiing, sailing, and eating delicious food.

Taylor Monahan

Principal Security Engineer, MetaMask

Taylor Monahan was the founder and CEO of MyCrypto, a security-first Ethereum interface acquired by Consensys in 2022 to strengthen MetaMask partnership and enhance web3 experiences. Taylor is now the Principal Security Engineer at MetaMask, the world’s leading self-custody web3 platform, where she is fully dedicated to making web3 safer for all.

Taylor was a Digital Producer at Americhip until September 2014 when she decided to switch industries and became a web developer. She joined Mangrove Web Development as a Front End Developer where she helped businesses build websites. She very quickly transitioned from being a front-end developer to a security expert, usability expert and customer support expert.

In August 2015, after the launch of Ethereum, Taylor started MyEtherWallet.com as a side project to help people generate paper wallets and to interact with the Ethereum blockchain. In 2018, it became MyCrypto, one of the most widely used services in the Ethereum ecosystem, before being acquired by Consensys.

Amanda Tuminelli

Chief Legal Officer, DeFi Education Fund

Amanda serves as the DEF’s Chief Legal Officer where she leads the organization’s impact litigation and policy efforts. Prior to joining DEF, Amanda was a lawyer at Kobre & Kim, where she defended clients against criminal and regulatory investigations, government enforcement actions, and large scale litigation. Before Kobre & Kim, she served as a law clerk for the Honorable Ann M. Donnelly of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Prior to her clerkship, Amanda practiced at Dechert LLP in their white-collar and securities litigation group, where she defended corporations and C-suite executives in government investigations and class-action securities disputes.

Peter Van Valkenburgh

Director of Research, Coin Center

Peter is Director of Research at Coin Center, the leading non-profit research and advocacy group focused on the public policy issues facing cryptocurrency technologies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. He’s a founding board member of the Zcash Foundation, a non-profit charity dedicated to building financial privacy infrastructure for the public good, and an advisor to StarkWare, a company on the forefront of developing trust-minimized scaling solutions for blockchains using zero-knowledge proof cryptography. He is a graduate of NYU Law, has a BS in economics from George Mason University, and is a self-taught web developer.

He drafts Coin Center’s public regulatory comments, and helps shape its research agenda. He has testified before the Senate Banking Committee, and the House Financial Services and Energy and Commerce Committees. He has briefed staff and members of the EU parliament, and educated policymakers and regulatory staff around the world on the subject of cryptocurrency regulation and decentralized computing systems. Previously, he was a Google Policy Fellow and collaborated with various digital rights organizations on projects related to privacy, surveillance, and digital copyright law. In a former life he was a working actor in New York City and Washington, DC theater.

Seth Hertlein

Global Head of Policy, Ledger

Hertlein brings deep experience in blockchain policy to Ledger, having previously served as the first Head of Policy and Government Relations for the Stellar Development Foundation, where he oversaw all aspects of the organization’s engagement on digital asset policy, legislation and regulation globally.

Georgia Quinn

General Counsel, Anchorage Digital

Georgia Quinn is the general counsel of Anchorage Digital, the premier digital asset platform for institutions and first federally chartered digital asset bank. Prior to that she was the general counsel of CoinList, a cryptocurrency exchange and platform that provides services to top token developers including compliant offering, distribution, and liquidity services. She is also the co-founder of iDisclose (now LawCloud), a legal technology company focused on the disclosure and legal document needs of small business and startup entrepreneurs. Ms. Quinn began her practice in capital markets at Weil, Gotshal and Manges and later moved to Seyfarth Shaw before founding iDisclose. Ms. Quinn received a JD from Columbia Law School, and received a BFA from New York University.

TuongVy Le

Partner and Head of Regulatory & Policy, Bain Capital Crypto

Vy is a Partner and Head of Regulatory & Policy at Bain Capital Crypto, where she advises an early stage, blockchain infrastructure-focused portfolio of projects and leads regulatory diligence and policy efforts. She previously served as Senior Counsel in the Division of Enforcement and Chief Counsel of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the SEC.  More recently, she led financial regulatory strategy as Deputy General Counsel and Compliance Officer at Worldcoin. She began her legal career at the law at the law firm WilmerHale.

Michael Nydegger

Head of Tax, Kraken

Michael Nydegger is Head of Tax at Kraken, one of the largest and oldest crypto exchanges in the world serving over 9 million customers. Michael focuses on all aspects of tax planning, operations, and customer tax reporting. He previously has been in tax leadership for a large oil and gas company and associate at Baker & Hostetler LLP, specializing in financial and technology industries tax liabilities and has been a speaker on a variety of tax subjects. Michael earned his LLM in taxation with distinction from Georgetown University, his JD, cum laude from Seattle University, and a BA, from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.

Jason Somensatto

Head of Policy for North America, Chainalysis

Jason Somensatto serves as Chainalysis’ Head of Policy for North America, where he leads the company’s engagement with lawmakers and regulators across the region, and serves as a senior, strategic advisor to Chainalysis leadership on the rapidly evolving regulation of digital assets. Prior to joining Chainalysis, Jason served as an advisor and FinTech and digital assets lead for CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam, and also led the CFTC’s Office of Technology Innovation. Jason has also served in positions at a blockchain API leader, and at a boutique litigation firm in DC. Jason is based in Chainalysis’ DC office.

Lawrence Zlatkin

Vice President, Tax, Coinbase

Lawrence Zlatkin is the Vice President, Tax at Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the US and a global market leader. He joined Coinbase in January 2020 and is an active proponent for clarity and dialogue in the tax regulation of the digital asset economy. Lawrence regularly participates in tax policy discussions regarding crypto and lectures frequently. Lawrence took on his role at Coinbase following a long standing career as a senior tax executive at the General Electric Company and as a tax lawyer at a number of global US law firms. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School (JD) and McGill University (BA) in his native Canada.

Casey Wagner

Senior Policy Reporter, Blockworks

Casey Wagner is a Senior Reporter based in New York. Casey covers digital asset policy and regulation, markets and central banks. Prior to joining Blockworks, she reported on macroeconomics at Bloomberg News. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Media Studies.