DZ
Dominic Zagara speaking on the StableCon main stage in front of a panel of regulators, issuers, and financial institutions

Keynote speaker · Moderator · Host

Dominic
Zagara

Type 1 Diabetic. Former Regulator. Technology Optimist.

Request a meeting See the events
StableCon USA 2026 Crisis director TEDxWaterStreet Curator Ex-NYDFS Regulator Scotiabank Digital Asset AML

Events

Stages, in order of appearance

Dominic on the StableCon main stage in front of panelists behind role placards

StableCon USA 2026 · 10 Sep 2026Host, moderator & crisis director

Stablecoin crisis simulation.

 Dominic speaking on a panel, holding a microphone

Stable Summit · 4 Jun 2026Moderator

Who is liable when sanctioned funds move through a stablecoin.

 Dominic hosting TEDxWaterStreet beside the TEDx sign and red carpet

TEDxWaterStreet · 15 May 2026Curator

Fluidity: An Exploration of Change, Identity, and Society.

 Dominic speaking at the GBA Blockchain Showcase beside a verifiable credentials slide

Blockchain Showcase at Capitol Hill · 2 Mar 2026Speaker

Making the case for government digital identity, starting with a dog.

 Three speakers seated on stage at the Crypto Regulatory Talk fireside chat

House of Web3, San Francisco · 22 Oct 2025Fireside chat

California's DFAL rollout, with the regulator who built the program.
All events, in detail →

Media

Interviews & press

The Weird CanadianPodcast · 25 Mar 2026

His Dog Cost Him $1,500 to Travel, So He's Using Blockchain to Change the Law

How a paperwork bill for one trip turned into Dog Tag — and why pet records are the lowest-stakes place to prove out digital credentials.

Web3 UnfilteredPodcast · 19 Feb 2026

Turning Everyday Problems into On-Chain Solutions

With host Collins Odabi: whether decentralization is actually required for pet health records, and the privacy and regulatory obstacles in the way.

Bitpush NewsInterview · 30 Jul 2025

The GENIUS Act & Stablecoin Regulation: Crypto's Defining Moment

Why the GENIUS Act's reserve provisions echo post-2008 money market reform, and the case for risk-based rather than blanket suspicion of on-chain activity.
Portrait of Dominic Zagara on stage holding a microphone

About

Consultant. Regulator. Founder. Banker.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio. Spent four years in Washington, DC at George Washington University. Dom has spent his career exploring the relationship between blockchains and policy — first as a consultant, then as a regulator, then as a founder, finally as a banker.

Dom organizes TEDx events and speaks at conferences on stablecoins, digital asset regulation, and innovation.

Consultant Regulator Founder Consultant Banker

Career

The long version

Jun 2026 — Present

Enterprise Lead of Digital Assets

Scotiabank

New York · On-site · Full-time

Leads digital assets at the enterprise level inside a global bank — including the Digital Asset AML control framework, where financial crime risk meets crypto and traditional finance, from the side of the institution that has to operate the control and answer for it in an examination.

Digital assetsAML/CFTBank-crypto risk

2024 — 2026

Senior Managing Consultant

BRG (Berkeley Research Group)

New York City Metropolitan Area · Full-time

Digital asset regulatory advisory — stablecoin regimes, licensing, and financial crime compliance for firms navigating a fragmenting rulebook.

Digital Financial Asset Law consulting

Assisted the California DFPI with implementing the DFAL regulatory framework.

Selected publications

  1. Should Banks Be Scared of Crypto Deposits? Jun 2025 · with Michael Hollerich

    Better analytics and clearer rules mean VASP deposit relationships can be managed rather than avoided.

  2. The GENIUS Act: Preparing Banks for the Digital Dollar Era Sep 2025 · with Sebastian Skladony, Michael Canale and Michael Hollerich

    What the first federal framework for payment stablecoins — reserve backing, operational standards — opens up and demands of banks.

  3. Client Alert: Notice on Use of Blockchain Analytics for New York Banking Organizations Oct 2025 · with Kristin Wenske and Samantha Welch

    NYDFS extended blockchain analytics expectations from crypto-native firms to traditional banking organizations — wallet screening, source of funds, counterparty risk.

  4. FinCEN Streamlines Beneficial Ownership Requirements Feb 2026 · with Samantha Welch

    FinCEN's February 2026 order lets institutions move to risk-based beneficial ownership verification instead of checking at every account opening.

  5. Mitigating Fraud in the Digital Age: It's Not the Tools but How You Organize Apr 2026 · with Michael Hollerich

    Rising fraud losses come from fragmented org structures, not weak technology — banks have to intervene before the money moves.

DFALStablecoinsFraudBSA/AML

2022 — 2024

Financial Crime Specialist, Virtual Currency Unit

NY State Department of Financial Services

New York, New York · Full-time

Developed and implemented regulatory frameworks for crypto, focused on blockchain analytics and stablecoins — arriving as Terra/Luna collapsed and FTX followed months later.

Guidance on the Issuance of U.S. Dollar-Backed Stablecoins

8 June 2022. After the TerraLuna collapse, DFS set out expectations for safe and sound stablecoin issuance — years ahead of the federal GENIUS Act.

Guidance on Use of Blockchain Analytics

28 April 2022. Reframed the assumption that crypto was mainly a criminal tool, setting out how law enforcement and crypto firms can use on-chain analysis to catch them instead.

Blockchain analyticsStablecoin guidanceSupervision

2021 — 2022

Senior Associate

BRG (Berkeley Research Group)

New York City Metropolitan Area · Full-time

Joined BRG's financial crimes compliance practice as the Promontory AML leadership moved across, working bank regulatory and AML engagements before the move to the regulator's side.

Virtually Consistent: OFAC Guidance for the Virtual Currency Industry

BRG publication, November 2021 — co-authored analysis of OFAC's first sanctions compliance guidance for virtual currency, covering geolocation and IP screening, VPN evasion by sanctioned users, and how the five essential components of a sanctions program apply to crypto firms.

OFAC sanctionsPublishedFinancial crimes

2019 — 2021

Analyst

Promontory Financial Group, an IBM Company

New York City Metropolitan Area · Full-time

Started his professional career as a consultant on BSA/AML issues for OCC-regulated banks, crypto companies, and governments.

Wyoming SPDI exam manual

Contributed to the examination manual for Wyoming's special purpose depository institutions — the charter built for digital asset banking.

BSA/AMLOCC banksExam manuals

Building

Dog Tag

A digital passport for pets — health records, service dog credentials, and travel paperwork that fills itself in.

Dom founded Dog Tag after a single trip with Blaze, his diabetic alert service dog, turned into roughly $1,500 of documentation. The app keeps a pet's health history in one place, issues a credential for service animals, and pre-fills travel forms from records already on file.

It is also the working argument behind his Capitol Hill talk: pet credentials are a real problem with real verifiers — vets, groomers, borders — and none of the consequences of getting a human identity wrong on the first try. Start where a mistake is survivable.

Visit dogtagapp.com
  • Pet health managerEvery record in one place, owner-held.
  • Service dog credentialA verifiable tag for working animals.
  • Travel documentationForms pre-filled from stored medical history.

Meet

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Keynotes, fireside chats, panel moderation, crisis simulations, and event hosting — or anything else worth a conversation. Share the event, date, audience, and format.