Ancient Coins to a $3.6 Billion Laptop: The Evolution of Money with the Smithsonian’s Dr. Ellen Feingold and former IRS-CI Special Agent Chris Janczewski

Ellen Feingold is the curator of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She received her DPhil in History from the University of Oxford and began her career as a Project Curator in the British Museum’s Money and Medals Department. Her research interests include the history of money and monetary objects, counterfeiting and forgery, and legal institutions and the administration of justice. Her recent exhibitions include The Value of Money, Really BIG Money, Women on Money, and Ukraine's Distinct History. Feingold is passionate about making the history of money relevant and accessible to everyone. You can find her recent work featured in Smithsonian Magazine, Politico, PBS’s NOVA, Sidedoor, and NPR's Marketplace. Listen to Bitcoin Bank Heist on the the Smithsonian's Sidedoor podcast here.

Chris Janczewski is the Head of Global Investigations at TRM Labs, leading an elite team of former law enforcement professionals from agencies including the US Secret Service, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the UK’s National Crime Agency, and the Federal Police of Brazil. A trailblazer in cryptocurrency investigations, Chris brings over a decade of experience uncovering financial crimes and tracking illicit funds across blockchain networks.

Before joining TRM, Chris served as a special agent with the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) for 13 years. He led some of the most high-profile cryptocurrency-related cases in history, including the largest government seizure of digital assets and the “Welcome to Video” takedown, a global investigation into a dark web child exploitation network. Chris also played a key role in establishing an inter-agency cryptocurrency strike force with the Washington, D.C. United States Attorney’s Office, and has briefed top policymakers at the highest levels of government on cryptocurrency and cybercrime. His work and investigative methodologies were cited extensively in the Department of Justice’s “Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework,” shaping national policy on digital asset crime.

Chris’s contributions to financial crime investigations have earned him numerous accolades, including the Secretary’s Honor Award (2020) and the Meritorious Service Award (2019) from the Secretary of the Treasury, as well as the Chief’s Investigative Excellence Award (2020) from IRS-CI.

Beyond his casework, Chris has been featured in major media and investigative projects. He recently appeared on the Netflix documentary “Biggest Heist Ever,” detailing his work as the lead investigator in the 2016 Bitfinex investigation, which resulted in the largest seizure in US history. Chris was also highlighted in Andy Greenberg’s book, “Tracers in the Dark,” which accounts some of the biggest cases in cryptocurrency-related financial crime. His investigative work has also been immortalized in the Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Museum, where his laptop — used in cracking the Bifinex case — is now part of the permanent collection.