Having been held for nine years, Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and others participated in discussions on North Korean hackers and the tracking of illegal funds.
Written by: Will Canny
Translated by: Chopper, Foresight News
As major summits in the cryptocurrency industry compete to invite star speakers and create increasingly luxurious event venues, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been quietly hosting its own annual meeting.
Three previous attendees interviewed by CoinDesk stated that the FBI-hosted virtual asset technology exchange conference, originally a virtual currency seminar, brings together law enforcement officials, overseas investigators, and cryptocurrency security professionals to exchange intelligence on crypto crime.
It is reported that several blockchain forensics companies, including Chainalysis and TRM Labs, participated in this conference held in September in San Antonio, Texas. Nikhil Raghuveera, co-founder and CEO of blockchain financial compliance infrastructure provider Predicate, delivered a keynote speech on stablecoin compliance and the GENIUS Act.
Insiders revealed that the nonprofit organization Security Alliance (SEAL), dedicated to protecting the cryptocurrency ecosystem from cyber threats, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury responsible for combating money laundering and illegal financial activities, also sent representatives to the conference.
The FBI and Chainalysis declined to comment, while TRM Labs confirmed its attendance at the event, and Predicate also confirmed that its CEO spoke at the session.
Two insiders stated that this seminar is by invitation only, with a cap of about 50 private firms and partners attending, resulting in a total number of attendees reaching hundreds. The meeting format includes keynote speeches, panel discussions, fireside chats, as well as social networking opportunities, with companies able to showcase their technology platforms in demonstration rooms.
According to insiders, the conference topics covered illegal utilization of virtual assets by criminal groups and terrorist financing, cyber fraud, various scams, child pornography distribution, human trafficking, and violent crime. Attendees also discussed recent hacking incidents, North Korean activities, and feasible solutions for intelligence sharing between the industry and law enforcement agencies.
Participants included high-ranking FBI officials, frontline investigators, as well as representatives from other U.S. government agencies and overseas law enforcement partners.
One attendee stated, "This is not a cryptocurrency industry conference; it is a law enforcement-specific meeting intended for law enforcement agencies and their partners."
The atmosphere of this exchange is starkly different from industry summits, with discussions focused entirely on illegal finance, national security, and investigations aimed at apprehending suspects and seizing assets. The attendee added that investigators share current threats, funding tracking technologies, and successful case studies that have been resolved.
A conference with very low exposure
Two anonymous insiders revealed that this government-funded seminar has now reached its ninth year, attracting hundreds of attendees in total.
The conference is not exactly confidential but has received minimal media attention. Most public information comes from posts made by attendees rather than official announcements from the FBI, and it lacks the promotional hype typical of commercial cryptocurrency conferences.
Token Recovery executive Roman Bieda confirmed in a LinkedIn post that the 2024 seminar will be held in Austin.
Bieda, who attended for the third time, stated that the conference gathers public and private sector experts from various countries to discuss threats such as money laundering, ransomware, human trafficking, and cryptocurrency-related scams. He did not respond to requests for comment before the article was published.
Evolution from government internal meetings to a multi-party industry forum
One interviewee noted that the early attendees of the conference were primarily government officials, but it has since expanded to include more representatives from the cryptocurrency industry.
The conference emphasizes practicality, aiming to help attendees understand new attack methods, effective technical tools, and the patterns of attacks launched by North Korean hacker groups targeting cryptocurrency firms.
Insiders added that there was also an in-depth presentation report covering the $270 million hacking incident involving Drift. In April 2026, hackers gained administrative access, using manipulated tokens as collateral to steal over $270 million in assets from this Solana ecosystem decentralized exchange.
Sharing threat intelligence in the cryptocurrency field
One attendee stated that unlike the flashy venues and marketing atmosphere of large cryptocurrency summits, the FBI's seminar deliberately maintains a low profile. However, the increasing participation of industry organizations reflects the current law enforcement's high reliance on cryptocurrency companies, blockchain analytics firms, and security researchers to locate attackers and track stolen funds.
According to Chainalysis report data, cryptocurrency activities associated with sanctioned countries surged in 2025, with Russia, Iran, and North Korea increasingly leveraging digital assets to support financial and security operations led by their governments; the scale of cryptocurrency assets received by sanctioned entities skyrocketed 694% year-on-year.
The FBI established a virtual asset department in February 2022, serving as the hub for the Bureau's cryptocurrency-related work, bringing together professionals from criminal and cyber divisions to support case investigations, intelligence analysis, and illegal fund tracking. At that time, the official press release indicated that the background for establishing this department was the significant use of digital assets in various crimes such as ransomware, child sexual exploitation, murder-for-hire, and terrorist financing.
However, insiders reveal that the FBI was already handling virtual asset cases before 2022, and a specialized team focusing on this area has been operational for about ten years.
One attendee remarked, "The value of this conference lies in seeing how law enforcement agencies respond to various illegal activities; they take it very seriously."
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