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Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer will urge United States officials to “support” responsible blockchain innovation, warning that it will face “catastrophic consequences” if they do not.
Gün Sirer’s comments in defense of what he calls “breakthrough technology” are part of testimony he is due to give to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on June 13 – the audience will include Chairman Patrick McHenry, ranking member Maxine Waters and other members of the House Committee.
Gun Sirer’s testimony aims to explain how blockchain can “transform society” by making digital services “more efficient, reliable and accessible to all”.
My written testimony for the House Financial Services Committee hearing on blockchains and the future of digital assets is now public.
You can read it to preview what I’ll say and live stream the hearing at 2 pm ET tomorrow here: https://t.co/bv2pWTwCVT https://t.co/dtRlBmuN4F
— Emin Gün Sirer (@el33th4xor) June 12, 2023
This comes amid a slew of regulatory action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and announced plans by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren to build an “army against cryptocurrencies.”
But Gün Sirer fears that such actions could lead to “catastrophic consequences” for the country’s economy:
“Failure to see the power of blockchain technology – whether it be due to misunderstandings or misplaced fears of the technology – will be disastrous.”
He added that “failing” to provide a “reasonable regulatory framework” would not only slow economic growth, but also “make it easier for bad actors to engage in illegal activities.”
I am honored to discuss the need for free, safe, and responsible blockchain innovation in the US before the House Financial Services Committee next Tuesday. I look forward to advocating for the technical and scientific merit of these systems. https://t.co/FUuuXmdrg1
— Emin Gün Sirer (@el33th4xor) June 9, 2023
The CEO of Ava Labs explained that the US “won the first wave of the Internet revolution” in the early 2000s because it provided “responsible freedom to innovate.”
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Now he is urging US officials to “follow the same path” in what he describes as an “increasingly ‘digital world’.”
“As we move towards a more digital world through artificial intelligence, virtual reality and a work-from-home society, we will have to increasingly rely on digital transmission and programmability of value.”
“Blockchains are a clear technological answer to these needs,” Gün Sirer said, adding that one day blockchains will take a large share of the global economic value:
“The targeted market for the digitization of the world’s assets and the secure transfer of value over the Internet is greater than the sum of all the value of all existing assets.”
Gün Sirer is not the only figure in the industry to share this view.
In an interview with CNBC Crypto World on June 8, Chainlink Labs CEO Sergey Nazarov explained that it is “absolutely inevitable” that much of the world’s economic value will soon find its way onto the network.