Comment Text:
I would like to publicly thank the CFTC and SEC for presenting all the sides of this emerging technology. The mainstream media has focused so much on the negatives of blockchain technology/crypto currency, completely ignoring the breakthrough and opportunities they present.
I was extremely impressed by the facts presented, including the positive outlook about blockchain's impact on American industry. America has been an innovator in the technology space for a long time, competing with the best in the world. The internet has had a huge impact on America financially, made our lives faster, easier, and safer.
Other countries are supporting blockchain innovation, in some cases, governments are partnering with developers. It is essential that we nurture our own development of this technology, so we remain competitive for the decades to come. I was impressed that both presenters not only recognize the value behind the technology, but also recognize that technology needs a fairly open field in which to run. The best products and companies we have were not created in the buildings of established industry. They were created in the garages of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, at the college dorm of Mark Zuckerberg, or in the bedroom of Vitalik Buterin.
The "do no harm" approach will allow people to innovate and create, using this new technology in ways that we can't even imagine. Youth have a tendency to use existing tech in ways the initial developers never thought of. It is important that blockchain is allowed to keep developing in the open space that is the internet.
To do that, we have to let cryptocurrency and blockchain companies operate in a safe but open manner. I agree that the ICO space needs to follow our nation's laws, as long as we don't forget that it is the trading of these digital assets that has fueled - literally and figuratively- the innovation and development that we see.
To ban the trading of these assets would be like taking away NASA's rocket fuel but asking them to keep building rockets. And we know that other countries will encourage growth, and pull away from us technologically.
We stand at an important moment for our country, a country that has been relying on foreign industries and engineers more and more. This is a small opportunity to remind the world that we are still innovators.
Thank you, Mr. Clayton and Mr Giancarlo, for your pragmatic assessment of this landscape.
