Merkle Mini Meet at ETHDenver 2026

​Join Taft Law and Merkle Science for a high-signal, small-format mini meet during ETHDenver week—built for operators, counsel, compliance leaders, payments teams, and builders navigating the next phase of institutional crypto and stablecoin adoption.

​Expect two focused panels, a real-world investigative case walkthrough with a live product demo, and plenty of time to connect over drinks with people actually shipping, licensing, integrating, or investigating in this space.

​What we’ll cover

​Institutional Adoption of Cryptocurrencies
A practical discussion on what’s accelerating adoption (and what’s still blocking it) across market structure, custody, risk, compliance, and governance.

​What’s Needed for Mainstream Stablecoin Adoption
What it takes to scale stablecoins beyond crypto-native rails: trust, redemption mechanics, compliance design, issuer risk, monitoring, payments integration, and operational resilience.

​Live Investigation + Product Demo (Merkle Science)
A case-study style walkthrough of how crypto investigations are run in practice, including tracing flows and connecting activity across wallets/services—plus a live demo of Merkle Science’s investigation workflow (built for law enforcement, investigators, and compliance teams).

​Hosts

​Taft Law
Taft is a modern, Am Law-ranked firm with over 1,250 attorneys across major U.S. markets, including Denver.

​Merkle Science
Merkle Science is a predictive crypto risk and intelligence platform used by government agencies, financial institutions, and crypto businesses. Teams use it to investigate illicit activity, strengthen transaction monitoring, and operationalize crypto risk workflows across compliance and investigations.

​Featured speakers

​Richard B. Levin (Taft Law)
Chair of Taft’s FinTech Practice and an early legal specialist in blockchain and digital asset regulation, advising trading platforms, exchanges/ATSs, and other regulated financial services and technology businesses.

​Bobby Wenner (Taft Law)
Partner advising fintech and digital asset companies on regulatory and corporate matters, with prior in-house experience as chief legal officer of a FINRA-member digital asset issuance and trading platform.

​Mriganka Pattnaik (Merkle Science)
CEO and co-founder of Merkle Science, a blockchain analytics and financial crime prevention platform trusted by Web3 businesses, financial institutions, and law enforcement. Mriganka began his career in investment banking at Bank of America, holds an engineering degree from IIT, and actively supports global regulatory and law enforcement initiatives, including work with Interpol and the IVAN network.

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​Agenda (2:00–6:00 PM)

​2:00–2:10 PM
Welcome remarks

​2:10–2:55 PM
Panel 1: Institutional Adoption of Cryptocurrencies (45 mins)

​2:55–3:05 PM
Networking break (10 mins)

​3:05–3:35 PM
Case Study: Live Investigation/Case + Merkle Science product demo (30 mins)

​3:35–3:45 PM
Transition break (10 mins)

​3:45–4:30 PM
Panel 2: What’s Needed for Mainstream Stablecoin Adoption (45 mins)

​4:30–6:00 PM
Networking drinks (1 hour)

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​Note: all attendees must bring a valid photo ID.