The Crypto Summit is an invite only program bringing together thought leaders globally to address the challenges of compliance and threats of economic crimes confronting Virtual Asset/Crypto Asset Service Providers and other Technology Companies, Traditional Financial Institutions, Regulators, Policymakers, Law Enforcement, and Others Working with Cryptocurrencies and Distributed Ledger Technologies.
The unrelenting pace of development driven by blockchain based technologies and the continuing proliferation of multiple classes of digital assets – including virtual currencies, security and utility tokens, stablecoins, central bank digital currencies, and nonfungible tokens – against the backdrop of “defi” (decentralized finance) and ever expanding metaverses, present unprecedented challenges globally for both the public and private sectors. A delicate balance exists between fostering innovation and promoting healthy ecosystems that benefit consumers and businesses alike while deterring criminal use and abuse of the technologies.
- How can lawmakers and regulators appropriately protect the safety and soundness of financial systems that are inextricably connected to the new crypto-related products and services, preserving the best features they offer users instantaneously and globally?
- What are the responsibilities of the engineers and developers writing the code, what steps can be taken by the ecosystems that support the different crypto assets, and to what extent can and should integrity play a role as this technology is deployed and incorporated in many facets of our lives?
- How can the technology itself provide solutions to address these challenges, especially as we move towards a world where AI and the bots assume greater operational roles?
- How can we balance the immense positive aspects of these technological developments with existing laws, regulations and expectations of various countries intended to deter economic crimes and criminal abuse of financial systems?
2023 Program and Speakers
Tuesday September 5
SESSION 1 – 2:00 – 4:00PM BST
Introduction
Crypto Summit Chair: Carol R. Van Cleef, CEO, Luminous Group, LLC, Chair, Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice, WLegal, Of Counsel, Lewis Baach, Kaufman Middlemiss
The Anatomy of a Crisis: Who is Responsible?
Setting the stage for this year’s cryptocurrency and blockchain summit requires a review of the cascading crypto events in 2022 that erupted into a full-blown banking crisis in 2023, and consideration of the responsibilities of the different parties who played a role in the crisis. From Terra Luna to Celsius to FTX, Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature, and beyond, the lack of appropriate risk control environments in crypto related businesses ultimately laid bare shortcomings of risk management practices not only in crypto related businesses but also banks. Failure to effectively manage money laundering risks was an undercurrent, a common factor for both crypto and banking. What went wrong, who should bear the responsibility and what kind – criminal, civil? What expectations are appropriate for creators of the technology and early-stage companies? Should banks be responsible for understanding the intricacies of new technology incorporated in the business models of clients, especially when aspects of the technology may present new and different risks? What is the appropriate role for regulators? And lawmakers?
Speakers
Amanda Wick, Founder, Association for Women in Cryptocurrency, Principal, Incite Consulting, Former Senior Investigative Counsel, US House of Representative, January 6 Committee, Former Assistant US Attorney, Department of Justice
Paige Berges, Partner, Ropes & Gray
Jeremy Sheridan, Managing Director, FTI Consulting, former Assistant Director, Office of Investigations and Office of Intergovernmental and Legislative Affairs, U.S. Secret Service
Barbara Matthews, Founder and CEO, BCMstrategies, Inc. Former US Department of the Treasury Attache to the European Union.
Samantha Pelosi, Founder and CEO, Unconventional Consulting, Formerly Senior Vice President for Policy and Regulatory Advocacy, American Bankers Association, formerly Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems Division, Federal Reserve Board
Melissa Wisner, Vice President – Crypto Risk, CipherTrace, a MasterCard Company, former US Department of the Treasury
Joseph Borg, Director, Alabama (USA) Securities Commission (Ret.),Carol Van Cleef, CEO, Luminous Group, Partner and Chair, Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice, W Legal, Of Counsel, Lewis, Baach, Kaufman, Middlemiss
Carol Van Cleef, CEO, Luminous Group, Partner and Chair, Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice, W Legal, Of Counsel, Lewis, Baach, Kaufman, Middlemiss
SESSION 2 – 4:15 – 6:15PM BST
Overview of Key Crypto Concepts and New Developments
Despite the crisis, the pace of technological development in the world of crypto assets and blockchain based business models continues unabated. Building during a crypto winter is considered good business. This means no rest for already weary regulators, lawmakers and law enforcement. This session will review key concepts in the context of the latest developments in crypto and blockchain based technologies, especially as they may present exposure to criminal use. The topics will focus on developments in Layer 1 and 2 protocols, the changes in the use of NFTs and the continuing evolution of NFT marketplaces, role of staking and the differences between custodial and noncustodial staking, defi (decentralized finance) basics and the latest structures, stablecoins and proof of reserves, central bank digital currencies, the challenges of DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), and the latest in virtual gaming and Metaverses. This session will also include an overview of the variety of technology solutions emerging to address the compliance related challenges of these developments, including how customized blockchains can promote regulatory compliance, blockchain analytic tools, KYC and identity management and sanctions compliance.
Speakers
Thomas Hardjono, PhD, CTO, Connections Science & Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Zach Burks, Founder and CEO, Mintable
Melissa Wisner, Vice President – Crypto Risk, CipherTrace, a MasterCard Company, former US Department of the Treasury
Paul Snow, Chief Blockchain Scientist, Inveniam, Founder and CEO, Factom
Christopher Donovan, General Counsel, NEAR Foundation.
Pawel Kuskowski, CEO and Founder, Gatenox, Founder, Coinfirm
Amber Scott, CEO and Founder, Outlier Solutions, Inc.
Lili Infante, CEO and Founder, CAT Labs, Former US Department of Justice, Special Agent, Cyber Investigations Task Force
Jintai Ding, PhD, Professor, Yau Center at Tsinghua University, Director of Ding Lab in Privacy Protection and Blockchain, Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications. Professor Emeritus, University of Cincinnati
Wednesday September 6
SESSION 3 – 2:00 – 4:00PM BST
Accelerating Legislative and Regulatory Initiatives
The collapse of FTX underscored the global nature of crypto-asset related businesses and the strengths and weaknesses of governments to coordinate responses internally and cross-border. The necessity to clarify the application of laws and regulations applicable to the ever growing and ever evolving classes of crypto assets and business models appears more pressing than at anytime in the past. This session will focus on the current legislative and regulatory efforts in the EU, CA, Singapore, Israel AU, HK, UK, US and other jurisdictions as well as the intergovernmental work of the Financial Action Task Force and other organizations to address these issues. Also of focus are key takeaways from prosecutions and regulatory enforcement actions, including those of the NY Department of Financial Institutions, a leader in regulation virtual currency business activities SEC, OFAC, the US banking regulators, and the SEC and CFTC as well as other regulators. The session will focus on trends in enforcement, the types of legislative and regulatory responses to help protect consumers from harm, and how regulators and law enforcement continue to look to the crypto ecosystem for solutions.
Speakers
Shlomit Wagman, Chief Regulation and Compliance Officer, Rapyd,Associate Faculty, Harvard University, Former Head of Israel’s Monday Laundering and Terror Financial Prohibition Authority, Former Head of Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority
Carole House, Chair, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Technology Advisory Group, former Director of Cybersecurity and Secure Digital Innovation, National Security Council, The White House
Isabella Chase, Senior Policy Advisor, TRM Labs, Associate Fellow and Former Senior Research Fellow, Center for Financial Crime and Security Studies, Royal United Services Institute.
Joseph Borg, Director, Alabama (USA) Securities (Ret.)
Jeremy Sheridan, Managing Director, FTI Consulting, former Assistant Director, Office of Investigations and Office of Intergovernmental and Legislative Affairs, U.S. Secret Service
Lee Schneider, General Counsel, Ava Labs
Barbara Matthews, Founder and CEO, BCMstrategies, Inc. Former US Department of the Treasury Attache to the European Union.
Christopher Donovan, General Counsel, NEAR Foundation
Joey Garcia, Director and Head of Public Affairs, Policy, Regulatory Affairs, Xapo Bank, Consultant. United Nations
Jordan Wain, UK Public Policy Lead, Chainalysis Inc. Former Financial Conduct AuthorityAndrew Whitworth, PhD, Policy Director, EMEA, Ripple; Former Bank of England
Andrew Whitworth, PhD, Policy Director, EMEA, Ripple; Former Bank of England
SESSION 4 – 4:00 – 6:00PM BST
NFTs: Driving Adoption of Crypto and More (4:00 – 5:00)
The challenge of NFTs is balancing the benefits of a growing number of powerful use cases with the ongoing concerns of law enforcement about criminal abuse. The initial hype surrounding NFTs may have cooled, but they are showing resilience moving into mainstream adoption as many of the world’s largest brands incorporate NFTs into marketing plans for rewards and other customer engagement. NFTs have also emerged recently as a powerful tool for recovering stolen crypto. Three key players in the ground breaking Project Genoa case will discuss how they obtained the first ever Singapore court order to use NFTs for this purpose and their experiences in enforcing the order globally.
Speakers
Zach Burks, CEO and Founder, Mintable Pte
Jonathan Benton, CEO and founder of iSanctuary
Raf Demczuk, W Legal
Nick Bax, PhD, Director of Analytics, Unciphered
Isabella Chase, Senior Policy Advisor, TRM, former Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, Royal United Services Institute
Carol Van Cleef, CEO, Luminous Group, Partner and Chair of Digital Assets and Blockchain Practice, W Legal, Of Counsel, Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC
Is CeFi’s Failure a Win for DeFi’s (5:00 – 6:00)
Are the supporters of DeFi right: the failure of centralized finance (CeFi) is the root cause of the high profile collapse of FTX and several other companies in the last year. How is DeFi different? In addition to exploring the advantages of DeFi over CeFi, this session will consider whether the opportunities for criminal use are greater or lesser with DeFi, the technologies that are being developed to help mitigate the risks of such abuse, how compliance issues can be addressed, and the potential for zero knowledge proofs to provide privacy preserving sanctions screening.
Speakers
Dave Jevans, CEO, CipherTrace, a Mastercard Company, Co-Chairman of the Board, Travel Rule Information Sharing Alliance
Chen Arad, Co-founder and COO, Solidius Labs Partner
Amber Scott, Founder and CEO, Outlier Solutions, Inc.
John Jeffries, Chief Marketing Officer, Blocknative, Co-Chairman of the Board, Travel Rule Information Sharing Alliance
Joey Garcia, Director and Head of Public Affairs, Policy, Regulatory Affairs, Xapo Bank, Consultant. United Nations, Partner, IOLAS LLP
Lee Schneider, General Counsel, Ava Labs
Simon Cohen, Partner, W Legal Limited
Thursday September 7
SESSION 5 – 2:00 – 4:00PM BST
The Future of Money – Stablecoins v. Central Bank Digital Currencies
The battle for the future of money is raging between stablecoins and CBDCs. Stablecoins offer an important lifeline to widescale use and adoption of different types of crypto assets. But they also have been designated a systemic risk for the financial services sector. International conflicts in recent years and the 2023 banking crisis have contributed to a seemingly heightened sense of urgency for the deployment of CBDC although serious privacy concerns linger. This session will review the critical issues in this battle including the current status of various sovereign efforts to develop CBDCs and regulate stablecoins, TradFi projects to develop stablecoins as new payment rails or settlement vehicles, the privacy concerns associated with CBDCs, the risks of being used in economic crimes are being addressed and other issues.
Speakers
Chair: Urszula McCormack, Partner, King & Wood Mallesons
Michi Kakebayashi, Deputy Director, Financial Services Agency, Japan
Thomas Hardjono, PhD, CTO, Connections Science & Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Barbara Widholm, Vice President, State Street Digital
Barbara Matthews, Founder and CEO, BCMstrategies, Inc. Former US Department of the Treasury Attache to the European Union.
Samantha Pelosi, Founder and CEO, Unconventional Consulting, Formerly Senior Vice President for Policy and Regulatory Advocacy, American Bankers Association, formerly Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems Division, Federal Reserve Board
Joey Garcia, Director and Head of Public Affairs, Policy, Regulatory Affairs, Xapo Bank, Consultant. United Nations
Teana Baker-Taylor, Vice President, Policy and Regulatory Strategy, EMEA, CircleClaire Conby, Founder and Head of UK, One Step Financial, Operations & Governance Lead Digital Pound Foundation
Claire Conby, Founder and Head of UK, One Step Financial, Operations & Governance Lead Digital Pound Foundation
Ruth Wandhofer, PhD,Chair, Payment Systems Regulator Panel, Venture Capital, Author
Jannah Patchay, Executive Director and Policy Lead, Digital Pound Foundation
SESSION 6 – 4:00 – 6:00PM BST
Finding the Lighted Path Out of the Darker Side of Crypto
Technology has opened some very big doors to solving some of the thorniest issues that have plagued crypto from the earliest days. Powerful blockchain analytic tools are being used in many ways – from recovery of funds stolen in hacking attacks to interruption of ransomware to transaction monitoring on exchanges and in banking organizations as well as tracking funding in the Ukraine conflict. Customer due diligence is being combined with transaction monitoring to provide more fulsome profiles of customers. RegTech is offering innovative ways to mitigate risks in Web 3. Sanctions solutions continue become more tailored to the unique needs of the crypto space. Case studies of research and recovery will be featured in this session.
Speakers
Liat Shetret, Director of Global Policy and Regulation, Elliptic, Adjunct Instructor, New York University
Nick Bax, PhD, Director of Analytics, Unciphered
Melissa Wisner, Vice President – Crypto Risk, CipherTrace, a MasterCard Company, former US Department of the Treasury
Jonathan Benton, CEO and founder of iSanctuary
Pawel Kukowski, CEO and Founder of Gatenox, Founder and Former CEO, Coinfirm
Barbara Widholm, Vice President, State Street Digital
Richard Sanders, Cryptocrime Investigation, Ukraine Volunteer
Jeremy Sheridan, Managing Director, FTI Consulting, former Assistant Director, Office of Investigations Office of Intergovernmental and Legislative Affairs, U.S. Secret Service
Janey Young, Founder, Safe Digital Futures, Advisor, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), Faculty, DCRO Institute for Cyber Risk Governance, former Head of Global Investigations, Chainalysis, former Senior Leader. UK National Cyber Crime Unit, National Crime Agency, former Head of Dark Web, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3).
Lee Schneider, General Counsel, Ava Labs
Lili Infante, CEO and Founder, CAT Labs, Former US Department of Justice, Special Agent, Cyber Investigations Task Force
Mark Laing, Senior Solutions Architect / Pre-sales Consultant for Chainalysis
