<div dir="ltr">I don't see the non-crypto references. They seem to qualify their references to blockchain to include applications where crypto-assets are used for speculative investment.<div><br></div><div>A blockchain is a form of distributed database and ledger. It seems the letter writers aren't including those applications where crypto-coins aren't minted. If a coin is minted, then it's a speculative investment. Does this make sense? </div><div><br></div><div>Jerry<br><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Jun 8, 2022 at 9:52 AM Robert Primak <<a href="mailto:bobprimak@yahoo.com">bobprimak@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div></div>
<div dir="ltr">Yes, I agree that sensible regulations for cryptocurrencies and crypto exchanges would be wise.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">The authors of the letter did not specify cryptocurrency blockchains. In fact, they cited some non-crypto examples as "proof" that there is no legitimate use case for blockchain technology.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">-- Bob Primak</div><div><br></div>
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On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 09:41:37 AM EDT, Jerry Harris <<a href="mailto:jerryharri@gmail.com" target="_blank">jerryharri@gmail.com</a>> wrote:
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<div><div id="gmail-m_-8401346595926389679yiv8835644235"><div><div dir="ltr">Bob, <div>I agree the term "blockchain" is almost as generic as "database." In my talk, I used terms like "Bitcoin Blockchain" to offer more clarity to which instance of a blockchain I was referring. However, I don't think the letter was referring to a generic blockchain-based system. I think its context is for any cryptocurrency-based blockchain, where coins are minted upon block validation. I think you and the authors of the letter agree that more regulation is required. </div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>Jerry</div></div><br clear="none"><div id="gmail-m_-8401346595926389679yiv8835644235yqt80607"><div><div dir="ltr">On Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 3:23 PM Robert Primak <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="mailto:bobprimak@yahoo.com" target="_blank">bobprimak@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br clear="none"></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div></div>
<div dir="ltr">What I think is being called "the blockchain" or "blockchain technology" is too narrow a definition. But regulation of crypto transactions, and especially of the products and services which use blockchain technology, is in my opinion inevitable.</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">The technology can be misapplied. But it also has more mundane and practical use cases which have already been made. As I have said before, credit card companies, logistics operations and many other businesses and industries, have all been successfully using blockchain technologies and validation methods for some time now.</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">What needs to be the focus of regulation, it seems to me, is the use of blockchains and cryptocurrencies, NFTs and Meta goods and services, in the FinTech industry. FinTech and related investment vehicles are not now adequately or properly regulated. There is no SEC or CFTC for crypto exchanges. And that is sometimes a fatal flaw in the world of crypto based investing. It is more of a speculative market than it needs to be. And most investors don't even know just how shaky the underpinnings of many crypto and NFT blockchains really are. Not to mention the outright scams and frauds in this arena.</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">Concern is warranted. But outright banning of the underlying blockchain technology is not only unwise, it is impossible. Blockchain tech. is not the problem. The speculative misuses of blockchains is a huge problem.</div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">Anyway, that's my partially-informed take on this latest outcry against crypto and blockchains. I expect a lot of sound and fury, but very little action from this Administration, this Congress or the Courts. And even less action if the political tides in Washington and in the States turn yet again. </div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div><div dir="ltr">-- Bob Primak </div><div dir="ltr"><br clear="none"></div>
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On Friday, June 3, 2022 at 01:58:36 PM EDT, Jerry Harris <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="mailto:jerryharri@gmail.com" target="_blank">jerryharri@gmail.com</a>> wrote:
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<div><div id="gmail-m_-8401346595926389679yiv8835644235gmail-m_-6874176628880234472yiv8355357036"><div dir="ltr">Hello, <div>I am sharing this since on the day I gave the Bitcoin / Web3 talk, a group of 25 computer scientists, software engineers and technologists drafted a <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="http://concerned.tech" target="_blank">letter</a> to Congress Wednesday criticizing blockchain technology. It did not go over well with the crypto community. The letter focused most of its attention on blockchain technology, and it didn't hold back: “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"</div><div><br clear="none"></div>A well-known Kubernetes engineer Kelsey Hightower felt a harsh backlash, saying that he’d received death threats over Twitter DMs. “Now I gotta go figure out how to unsign a thing. This isn't the hill I'm willing to literally die on." He didn't remove his signature, and he's not the only critic of crypto I've heard receiving death threats, DDOS attacks, and other harassment. <div><br clear="none"></div><div>"The catastrophes and externalities related to blockchain technologies and crypto-asset investments are neither isolated nor are they growing pains of a nascent technology. They are the inevitable outcomes of a technology that is not built for its purpose and will remain forever unsuitable as a foundation for large-scale economic activity.</div><br clear="none">Given these vast externalities, together with the-at best still-ambiguous, and at worst non-existent-uses of blockchain, we recommend that the Committee look beyond the hype and bluster of the crypto industry and understand not only its inherent flaws and extraordinary defects but also the litany of technological fallacies it is built upon."<div><br clear="none"></div><div><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" href="http://concerned.tech" target="_blank">http://concerned.tech</a></div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>Jerry</div></div>
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