THE THIRD ANNUAL DC PRIVACY SUMMIT

October 15, 2026 • National Union Building • Washington, D.C.

A curated discussion about the future of privacy, identity, and security online

A pop-up think tank that brings togther cryptographers, developers, policy makers & regulators, law enforcment officials, and civil liberties advocates.

DC Privacy Summit lock logo

The evening before the Summit

Cypherpunk Policy Dinner

October 14, 2026 at the National Union Building. Happy hour from 5:00–6:30 PM, followed by dinner and a focused cypherpunk policy conversation. Tickets are $200 per person, payable only in Zcash (ZEC).

Tickets & details

Join us for the 2026 DC Privacy Summit

The DC Privacy Summit is a unique forum for urgent conversations about converging technological trends. Zero-knowledge proofs and other powerful cryptographic tools are raising novel questions about the law, and about the relationship between the US government and its citizens. Policymakers across the country (and around the world) are rushing to introduce digital identification credentials and age verification laws. Sophisticated cyberattackers are making consumer data security a national security issue. And the rise of AI is supercharging it all.

If favorable privacy, security, and policy outcomes are to be achieved, barriers to open communication between practitioners developing these new capabilities and policymakers in Washington must be overcome as soon as possible.

2026 Speakers

2026 DC Privacy Summit speaker; name to be announced
Wei Dai

Wei is a research partner at 1kx, where he focuses on research and investment in financial and security infrastructure within AI, blockchain, and frontier technologies. Before becoming a venture investor, he published more than a dozen academic papers on security, cryptography, & blockchains, designed, developed, and deployed blockchain & privacy protocols, and advised numerous startups building financial and security infrastructure. He holds a PhD in Computer Science (with specialization in cryptography) from the University of California, San Diego.

Neha Narula
Neha Narula

Neha Narula is the Director of the Digital Currency Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, where her research interests are in cryptocurrencies and distributed systems. She is also on the Board of Directors for Block and the Innovation Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Neha has given a TED talk on the future of money and was named to WIRED's list of 25 leaders shaping the next 25 years of technology. She received her PhD in computer science from MIT in 2015, where she published work on fast, scalable databases and before that was a senior software engineer at Google.

Justin Slaughter
Justin Slaughter

Justin Slaughter is the VP of Regulatory Affairs at Paradigm. Prior to joining Paradigm, Justin was Director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs and Senior Advisor to Acting Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Allison Herren Lee. Justin has also served as Chief Policy Advisor and Special Counsel to former Commissioner Sharon Bowen at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and as General Counsel to Senator Edward J. Markey. He has also served as a consultant in private practice focusing on crypto, fintech and frontier technology startups.

Peter Van Valkenburgh
Peter Van Valkenburgh

Peter is Executive Director at Coin Center, the leading non-profit research and advocacy group focused on the public policy issues facing cryptocurrency technologies such as Bitcoin. He is a graduate of NYU Law, as well as a self-taught designer and coder. He has testified before Congress, briefed staff and members of the EU parliament and educated policymakers and regulatory staff around the world on the subject of cryptocurrency regulation and decentralized computing systems. Previously, he was a Google Policy Fellow and collaborated with various digital rights organizations on projects related to privacy, surveillance, and digital copyright law.

Julie Lascar
Julie Lascar

Julie Lascar leads global policy at Digital Asset, the creator of the Canton Network. She previously spent over ten years at the U.S. Treasury Department. She most recently served as the Director of the Payments and Innovation team in Treasury’s Office of Terrorist Financing, driving efforts to assess and mitigate illicit finance risks in the digital asset ecosystem through clear and coherent AML/CFT policies and regulations. She also served as the co-chair of the FATF’s Virtual Asset Contact Group, leading multilateral efforts to advance global implementation of the FATF standards.



More speakers to be announced soon!

Sponsors

Join a community committed to advancing privacy and technology.

Venue

National Union Building
918 F Street NW, Washington, D.C.

Central DC Location

Located near Metro Center and Penn Quarter, the National Union Building keeps attendees close to Washington's policy, civic, and cultural center.

Contact Us

Have questions or want to sponsor? Send us a message.