U.S. Justice Department holds high-level blockchain conference in San Francisco

     Today, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) held its first conference on digital currency and blockchain in San Francisco.

    According to the relevant agencies, the purpose of this event is to bring together the private and public sectors to focus on strategies to limit the use of emerging technologies by cyber criminals.

    The undisclosed event, organized by the Justice Department’s Digital Currency Task Force and held at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, brought together 175 industry insiders for a panel discussion aimed at highlighting the perspectives of entrepreneurs, law enforcement officials and regulators on the core topic.

    While no official list of attendees has been announced, images of the event on Twitter showed speakers including Xapo CEO Wences Casares, Coinbase founder Fred Ehrsam, and Ripple CEO Chris Larsen.

    In his remarks, U.S. Attorney Brian J. Stretch defined the meeting as an attempt to forge common ground between government representatives and the decentralized financial technology sector:

    “It is also critical for industry leaders and government agencies to share insights and perspectives on combating the illicit use of emerging technologies such as digital currencies and blockchain to expand their reach into new, legitimate applications.”

     FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery noted that while her agency has made early efforts to understand the industry, the evolving nature of technology requires continued discussions.

     Calvery added: "We're just opening the door to hundreds of other problems that go beyond our anti-money laundering perspective."

     CoinDesk also hinted at the activity in a September interview with Kathryn Haun, the Justice Department’s digital currency crimes coordinator, which concluded with a discussion of the multi-agency task force and its goals.

   At the time, Haun emphasized that the U.S. government is broadly seeking to participate in discussions in the digital currency and blockchain industry in order to provide clear insights to all ecosystem participants on key issues.