Washington DC will host its biggest blockchain conference since Bitcoin in the Beltway wrapped two years ago. When the DC Blockchain Summit convenes on March 3rd, organizers have a different agenda th
Washington DC will host its biggest blockchain conference since Bitcoin in the Beltway wrapped two years ago. When the DC Blockchain Summit convenes on March 3rd, organizers have a different agenda than that earlier gathering. Instead of showcasing industry titans, this event aims to create spaces where government agencies, regulators, and crypto builders actually talk to each other.
Regulation is coming. Federal policymakers have stopped pretending otherwise. Cryptocurrencies will persist—no one can arrest a protocol. The government can and does prosecute people building on the technology. Homero Joshua Garza is watching a $10 million judgment advance against his companies. His Paycoin keeps trading anyway. The currency outlasts its creator. That gap tells you something fundamental about enforcement against decentralized systems.
The industry's best move is showing up at the table. When government writes rules without hearing from people who build in the space, the resulting regulation gets shaped by fear and confusion. Blockchain is versatile. You can't shove it into one regulatory bucket without creating problems.
Perianne Boring created the Chamber of Digital Commerce and designed this summit. Matthew Roszak runs Tally Capital and sits on the Chamber board. I asked both what they're after.
DeMartino: What are you trying to accomplish?
Boring: We want to get industry and government talking. The public and private sectors don't understand each other well enough.
Roszak: Blockchain conversation in DC needs to intensify. I'm investing and building in this space, and I want to see more serious dialogue about what this technology can do. The Chamber set up a meeting point where business, technology, and regulation come together. We did the same thing with the internet in the '90s, with mobile, with Skype—technologies that didn't fit inside old regulatory categories.
DeMartino: Your speaker list keeps growing. Caught you off guard?
Boring: The speakers we're getting match the quality of work we do here. This is being taken seriously.
DeMartino: You've spent time in DC policy circles. How are politicians thinking about digital currency?
Boring: Scattered. A few key voices on Capitol Hill understand it. Congress has a knowledge problem—there's no blockchain legislation proposed, and they're not treating it as urgent. The real work happens inside regulatory agencies and with law enforcement. I've found people in these agencies who grasp the technology. That understanding varies widely across government, and we want to level it out. The federal structure makes it messy. CFTC regulates it as a commodity. SEC studies it through securities law, though they haven't classified bitcoin as a security. Treasury is worse—FinCEN calls it currency for money laundering rules, IRS calls it property. Companies trying to operate here navigate a nightmare.
DeMartino: The Blockchain Alliance put law enforcement in partnership with industry. Some objected. How do you respond?
Boring: People complaining probably haven't worked in Washington. Law enforcement sits with regulators constantly. When law enforcement spots crimes they can't handle and fear the technology, that produces harsh regulation. Getting them to understand prevents that.
DeMartino: Does rooting out scams help bitcoin?
Roszak: Emerging technology has rough patches. The coverage changed. Two years ago it was Mt. Gox and Silk Road. Now it's major tech and finance companies joining. Innovation is the story now. Every CTO on the planet thinks about blockchain.
DeMartino: You mentioned investors fear uncertainty. Does the block size debate concern capital?
Roszak: That debate is actually a feature. It's built into the system—decentralized, peer-to-peer, consensus-driven. Developers who care put years into improvements. Investors, workers, customers, all have stakes. The ecosystem picks the right answer. Core or Classic or whatever emerges, the best one wins. Satoshi built it that way.
DeMartino: When does bitcoin become a campaign issue?
Boring: Makes sense it's not in the debates. Candidates talk about borders, guns, Iran. The crypto market cap sits around six billion. That's smaller than what Education Department spends yearly. We're at the beginning. Blockchain shouldn't be a partisan issue anyway. It's technology and jobs and investment. Treating it as a wedge issue hurts everyone.
The speaker roster includes Stephen Pair of BitPay, Marc Hochstein from American Banker, Adam Ludwin of Chain, and Mick Mulvaney, a Republican representative from South Carolina. The FBI, Microsoft, Ethereum, and MIT send representatives. Arvind Krishna, senior vice president of IBM Research, will deliver the keynote.
