Blockchain Fears Will Have ‘Disastrous Consequences’ — Ava Labs CEO Testimony

Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer will urge US officials to “nurture” and “support” responsible blockchain innovation, warning that they face “catastrophic consequences” if they don’t.

Gün Sirer’s comments in defense of what he describes as a “revolutionary technology” are part of testimony he is scheduled to give to the US House Financial Services Committee on June 13 – the audience will include Chairman Patrick McHenry, Ranking Member Maxine Waters and others members of the house committee.

Gün Sirer’s testimony aims to explain how blockchain can “transform society” by making digital services “more efficient, reliable and accessible to everyone.”

It comes amid a series of regulatory enforcement actions by the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and US Senator Elizabeth Warren’s indicated plans to build an “anti-crypto army.”

But Gün Sirer fears that such an action could backfire with “catastrophic consequences” for the country’s economy:

“If you don’t see the power of blockchain technology — whether it’s due to a lack of understanding or misplaced fear of the technology — the consequences will be disastrous.”

He added that a “failure” to provide a “sensible regulatory framework” would not only set back economic growth, but also “make it easier for bad actors to carry out illegal activities”.

Ava Lab’s CEO explained that the United States “won the first wave of the Internet revolution” in the early 2000s because it enabled “responsible freedom to innovate.”

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He is now asking US officials to “follow the same path” in what he describes as an increasingly “digitally native world”.

“As we move towards a more digitally native world, aided by AI, virtual reality and a home-from-home community, we must increasingly rely on digitally native transfer and programmability of value.”

“Blockchains are the clear technological answer to these needs,” said Gün Sirer, adding that blockchains will one day capture a large portion of the world’s economic value:

“The addressable market for digitizing the world’s assets and transferring value securely over the internet is greater than the sum of all the value of all existing assets.”

Nor is Gün Sirer the only industry figure who shares 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 financial value will soon find its way onto the chain.

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