FBI’s Patrick Wyman discusses digital assets at Ripple Swell

The head of the FBI's Virtual Assets Unit joined a Coinbase-heavy panel in New York focused on security and institutional adoption Crypto conferences usually feature founders, fund managers and the occasional celebrity. At Ripple Swell 2026 in New York, the lineup also included the FBI. Patrick Wyman, Unit Chief of the FBI’s Virtual Assets Unit (VAU), said digital assets play a growing role in agency investigations. That is a notable message to deliver at a conference full of people building the industry those investigations touch. A federal agent walks into a crypto conference Wyman spoke on October 28, 2026, as part of a panel titled “The $3.7M Wake-Up Call.” The session’s central argument was that security is a major factor in whether institutions adopt digital assets. He shared the stage with Steve Wisniewski and Michael Sikorski, both of Coinbase. Ali Tager moderated the discussion. Wyman leads a unit built for exactly this kind of work. The VAU was set up to strengthen the FBI’s ability to investigate cases involving digital assets. The unit acts as a hub for digital asset investigations across the FBI’s various divisions. A field agent chasing a fraud case does not need to b...