Crypto Earns Its Seat at the Table

written by: Justine Bone

Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a new initiative to share actionable cybersecurity threat intelligence with digital asset firms, extending the same protections that traditional financial institutions have relied on for years. For those of us who have been working to bridge the gap between government and the crypto industry, this is a milestone worth pausing on.

It's also personal.

I started my career in offensive security, training within the Five Eyes intelligence community alongside the U.S. government. That experience shaped how I think about defense: you learn quickly that the best protection comes from understanding the attacker, and that trusted information sharing between allies isn't optional. It's the foundation everything else is built on.

When I left government service and moved into the private sector, I carried that conviction with me. Over the years, I watched the cybersecurity landscape evolve across industries. Traditional financial services built robust frameworks for collective defense: ISACs, direct government threat intel channels, professional trust networks. These institutions understood that no single firm could defend itself alone against nation-state adversaries.

Crypto had none of that infrastructure. And yet the threats targeting digital asset platforms were just as sophisticated, and often more aggressive, than anything facing traditional finance. The speed of transactions, the irreversibility of blockchain, the global and decentralized nature of the ecosystem: all of it makes crypto an attractive target for the most capable threat actors in the world, including state-sponsored groups. The gap between the threat level and the defensive infrastructure has been stark.

That gap is why Crypto ISAC exists.

When we launched two years ago, one of the most rewarding parts of the work was re-engaging with government partners. I'll be honest: the reception was warmer than many in the industry might expect. There was genuine interest in building relationships with the crypto sector, a recognition that these firms were part of the broader financial system and deserved the same attention. The conversations felt familiar to me. The language of threat intelligence, information sharing, and operational coordination translates across sectors. What mattered was showing up with credibility, professionalism, and commitment.

The past year in particular has been a turning point. I've had a front-row seat as the posture around crypto regulation and policymaking shifted from challenging to constructive. Digital assets went from being treated as an outsider category to being recognized as a legitimate part of the financial ecosystem. Policy frameworks started reflecting that reality. The tone in Washington changed, and it changed meaningfully.

Last week’s announcement from the Treasury's Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection (OCCIP) is a direct result of that shift. OCCIP is now extending timely, actionable cybersecurity information to the U.S. digital asset industry, helping identify, prevent, and respond to cyber threats. This isn't symbolic. It's operational. It represents the same quality of threat intelligence that banks and other financial institutions have used to protect their customers, now made available to crypto.

For Crypto ISAC, this validates what we've been building since day one. Public-private collaboration isn't a talking point for us. It's the architecture. We've been working alongside government agencies, including the Treasury, from our founding to strengthen the resilience of this ecosystem. Today's announcement is a recognition that the bridges we've been building are carrying real weight.

But the work is far from done. The threat landscape is intensifying. Nation-state actors are getting more creative, social engineering campaigns are scaling, and the attack surface across DeFi and centralized platforms continues to expand. The infrastructure for collaboration is finally catching up to the reality of the threat. Now the question is whether the industry will meet the moment.

If your firm is serious about security and resilience, this is the time to be part of the conversation. Crypto ISAC's enterprise membership gives you direct access to the threat intelligence, government relationships, and the professional network of practitioners that this moment demands. We'd welcome the chance to show you what that looks like.

Get in touch to learn more about Crypto ISAC or explore membership opportunities

Read the Treasury press release.

About Crypto ISAC

The Crypto ISAC is a member-driven, not-for-profit organization that works together to curb malicious actors, address vulnerabilities, share intelligence, and move security forward to protect the crypto ecosystem. We are founded by leading crypto organizations and designed for cryptosecurity experts to address the security and trust challenges that face crypto today and shape the crypto ecosystem of tomorrow.