Our research director Peter Van Valkenburgh was invited by the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force to discuss some of the many positive use cases for open, permissionless, blockchain networks that are uniquely enabled by this technology.
Last week I spoke at the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force’s Digital Currency Symposium in Orlando. The NCIJTF is a multi-agency task force whose members include the FBI, NSA, CIA, Secret Service, and other law enforcement and technology-focused groups in the US government. The Symposium included talks from blockchain forensic firms Eliptic and Chainalysis, panels with compliance directors at leading exchanges as well as banks, and a talk from co-founding member of the Ethereum Foundation, Taylor Gerring. My presentation offered a review of open consensus mechanisms, specifically, and an explanation of why open networks are critical for certain applications: electronic cash, identity, and the Internet of Things. The response was overwhelmingly positive; it’s good to know that law enforcement understands the tremendous benefits these technologies promise given they typically spend their days mostly focused on the risks.