Prominent Bitcoin industry figures form ‘Blockchain Alliance’ to combat criminal activity
A group of prominent Bitcoin companies and individuals, led by the Chamber of Digital Commerce and Coin Center, have formed the Blockchain Alliance, a Washington DC nonprofit that will serve as a resource for law enforcement to help combat criminal activity involving Bitcoin and the blockchain. In a statement, the new organisation explained the rationale behind this move, and said that “for the blockchain to thrive, the industry must work together to correct the misperception of Bitcoin as the ‘currency of criminals'". This comes after a large number of high-profile incidents concerning Bitcoin's use in criminal activities in recent years.

A public-private initiative named the “Blockchain Alliance” has been formed with the aim to tackle criminal activities with regards to blockchain and Bitcoin.

The Blockchain Alliance is a nonprofit organization and has been made by the Chamber of Digital Commerce and Coin Center and comprises of many companies and institutions such as the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative and developer Gavin Andresen, BitFinex, besides several others.

All of them have joined hands to address the concerns about the Bitcoin and the blockchain.

It has been decided that Jason Weinstein will be the Director of the Blockchain Alliance.

Weinstein is a Partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP and is also the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of cybercrime investigations at the Department of Justice.

In a statement, he explained the rationale behind this move, and said that “for the blockchain to thrive, the industry must work together to correct the misperception of Bitcoin as the ‘currency of criminals.’”

The Alliance will coordinate with the Department of Justice, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and plans to engage with other U.S. and foreign agencies as well.

Explaining the need of this initiative, Perianne Boring, President of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, opined that at present, the Bitcoin faces the issue of “perception,” and it is due to this problem that it is still unable to get adopted by the mainstream.

Boring felt that by having an open dialogue with law enforcement agencies will help reduce doubts over this technology.

Jerry Brito who is the Executive Director of Coin Center also said that the aim of the alliance is to ensure that the capacity of Bitcoin and the blockchain to benefit so many does not get hindered by the potential of its misuse by a few.