Here is the letter:
...
Today, we write to you urging the Committee to take a critical, skeptical approach toward industry claims
that crypto-assets (sometimes called cryptocurrencies, crypto tokens, or web3) are an innovative
technology that is unreservedly good.
Fair enough.
We urge you to resist pressure ... to create a regulatory safe haven for these risky, flawed, and unproven digital
financial instruments ...
Bitcoin doesn't need a regulatory safe haven.
... and to instead take an approach that protects the public interest ...
Note that government interest is not necessarily the same as public interest, especially when the government interest is self-serving and benefits the elites.
... and ensures technology is deployed in genuine service to the needs of ordinary citizens.
Ordinary citizens can decide for themselves if Bitcoin serves them or not. They don't need governments and academics to tell them what is good for them.
We strongly disagree with the narrative ...
Fair enough.
Not all innovation is unqualifiedly good; not everything that we can build should be built. The history of
technology is full of dead ends, false starts, and wrong turns. Append-only digital ledgers are not a new
innovation.
Irrelevant.
Financial technologies that serve the public must always have mechanisms for fraud mitigation and allow a human-in-the-loop to reverse transactions..
That is your opinion, and the "deep expertise your fields" provides no support for that opinion.
Finally, blockchain technologies facilitate few, if any, real-economy uses.
That is, of course, a narrow-minded view and it demonstrates a lack of any imagination and foresight. Besides, if cryptocurrencies never show any promise, they will go away without the need for any encouragement on your part.
The risks and externalities related to blockchain technologies and crypto-asset investments are ... are the inevitable outcomes of a technology that is not built for purpose and will remain forever unsuitable as a foundation for large-scale economic activity.
What about as a foundation for small-scale economic activity, instead? Your small-minded views again show your lack of imagination and foresight.
We need to act now to protect investors ... from the severe risks posed by crypto-assets ...
The best protection is information and not restrictions on what people can decide for themselves. Your kind of protection is a foundation of tyranny.