James Smith
Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Elliptic
James Smith, a co-founder of Elliptic, has argued that crypto compliance has shifted from something early builders ignored to something considered from day one, with investigations now following funds across several blockchains at once.
Why the room needs them.
James Smith co-founded crypto-compliance firm Elliptic in 2013 and is its Chief Strategy Officer. He spoke at Proof of Talk Paris 2026 on the panel "Privacy and Compliance: Two Sides of the Same Coin".
The full account.
James Smith is a co-founder of Elliptic, the blockchain analytics and crypto-compliance company started in 2013, and its Chief Strategy Officer. Before Elliptic, Smith worked as an options and derivatives trader, and recalled in a 2023 company Q&A watching bitcoin's price climb on CNBC from a trading floor. Smith and fellow co-founder Tom Robinson, in Smith's words, "quit our jobs and started trying to figure out what infrastructure needed to be built." The founders treated their first challenge as a data problem: helping cryptocurrency exchanges answer questions from the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Smith later served as Elliptic's chief executive. On 28 April 2020 Smith stepped down from that role to concentrate on technology and engineering development as chief scientist, saying at the time that the conclusion had been "I would be most effective in a different role". Simone Maini, then chief operating officer, became chief executive. A dated announcement from June 2026, covering Elliptic's compliance partnership with the stablecoin platform KAST, names Smith as Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer. In it, Smith said regulators and partners expect stablecoin platforms to meet "the same standard of financial crime controls that apply in traditional finance."
In a May 2025 interview with Cryptonews at Token2049 Dubai, Smith described how attitudes had changed: "In the early days, people didn't think compliance was necessary," but now, in Smith's words, "nobody builds anything without thinking about compliance from day one." Smith also said a third of the complex cases Elliptic's customers investigate involve at least three blockchains, requiring systems that follow funds across bridges, decentralised exchanges and protocols, and that the company wants clients to grow without hiring a new analyst every time trading volumes spike.
On 2 June 2026, Smith spoke at Proof of Talk Paris 2026 as Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Elliptic, on the panel "Privacy and Compliance: Two Sides of the Same Coin" on the Taostats Stage. The session also featured Jody Mettler, Jens Hachmeister and Dr. Saj Khoshroo, and was moderated by Nicola Massella.
What James believes about the next ten years.
Years of shipping.
Lines that keep proving correct.
“In the early days, people didn't think compliance was necessary.”
“As stablecoin financial platforms like KAST reach more users, regulators and partners expect the same standard of financial crime controls that apply in traditional finance.”
“And so we quit our jobs and started trying to figure out what infrastructure needed to be built.”
What they have built, written, and backed.
Built
- EllipticCo-founded in 2013 as a blockchain analytics and crypto-compliance company, whose first work helped cryptocurrency exchanges answer questions from the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
The next Proof of Talk is in Abu Dhabi.
Louvre Abu Dhabi, 3–4 December 2026. Admission is by application, and the room is capped at 2,000.
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