While the members of the panel made it quite clear they weren’t there to represent their respective agencies, they all agreed that the wanted to see the crypto space unhindered by over-regulation.

They agreed that one of the major concerns continued to be fraud and misuse of the cryptocurrency and blockchain space by criminal activity. Cohen and Mcdonald claimed that their particular agencies had “open-door policies” for ICOs:

“The SEC has been open about meeting with people from the industry, to come in and meet with the staff, to talk about the ideas you have, the new developments, and have a dialogue about the new technology. The commission encourages ways to raise capital, we don’t regulate the technology – we regulate the financial industry and the markets.”
On regulation, McDonald commented:

“Our mission is to foster financially sound markets, and we understand as a regulator that requires a certain amount of [flexibility] in our approach. We’re doing it in a way that doesn’t hinder innovation and doesn’t interfere with other regulatory priorities.”

Associate deputy Attorney General Sujit Raman asserted that Americans need to be protected by the Department of Justice, commenting that ” large sums of money flowing through the market without touching financial institutions… we have to investigate from a national security perspective.”

Asked about his concerns, Bittrex’s Raj suggested that more certainty was needed regarding regulatory processes to combat fraud, agreeing that it was not welcome in the industry, asking, “The problem is how do we take guidance and apply it to what you’re doing when it’s so far away from what the fraud people are doing?”

In contrast to the suited regulators earlier stage performance,  the conference came to a close with an after bash party as promised with a performance by Snoop Dog, who arrived at the half-filled event space in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, clad in Patagonia fleeces, button-up shirts and Team Ripple tees. He performed to a group of cryptocurrency believers downing champagne and blood orange margaritas.

This wasn’t Snoop dog’s first encounter with cryptocurrency, once tweeting, “My next record is available in Bitcoin n delivered in a drone”.