Patrick Murck is a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where he works on the Digital Finance Initiative. Patrick is also an attorney in private practice and serves as Special Counsel at Cooley LLP, a global technology law firm. At the Berkman Klein Center, he conducts research into the law and policy implications of the blockchain technology, smart contracts and FinTech. He also organizes a series of Shared Ledger Roundtable meetings at Harvard Law School bringing together academics, open-source software developers and the public and private sector to discuss legal frameworks for open financial systems. Patrick is frequently called upon to advise policymakers and central banks as they develop a sound regulatory framework for distributed ledger technology and FinTech. Prior to this, Patrick was a co-founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, where he served as general counsel and later as executive director. Patrick led the early public policy efforts that saw bitcoin and the blockchain recognized as a beneficial innovation that should be supported through light touch regulation. During that time, he organized and testified in the first US Senate Hearings on the topic. In light of these efforts he was recognized as one of the 50 Outstanding General Counsel in the US by the National Law Journal. Murck has also been involved in a number of digital currency and fintech startups as employee, entrepreneur and advisor.