tl;dr: on the debate over the Infrastructure bill

I’m writing this on the morning of Monday, August 9th after having watched, from afar in Bulgaria, the raging debate about the various “crypto” amendments to the Infrastructure bill.

Now, why there is a crypto amendment to an infrastructure bill is a different story, and it is my hope that the debate has been resolved-favorably for crypto-by now.

But, I think, there’s something larger going on here, which I pointed out back in July, before the Portman-Warner-Sinema amendment was even a glimmer in the eye.

In “The Era of Violent Opposition,” I wrote

I think that we may be still warming up the “violent opposition” act.

and it looks like I was on to something.

The Portman amendment would put onerous restrictions upon a burgeoning industry, stifling innovation, and hindering the advancement of national security.

To me, this is the equivalent of a “square peg in a round hole,” just like the Howey Test is for looking at tokens.

It’s not about “no regulation.” It’s about “how do we achieve the same aims of protecting people given the arrival of this new technology?”

But lawmakers in their 60s and 70s, and I hate to be ageist here, for the most part, are not coming from a “digital-first” mentality. Heck, many of them are coming from an America of the 1980s mentality.

As such, instead of accepting what is the third phase of this innovation, “seen as self-evident,” they are fighting it.

In my opinion, digital assets running on publicly owned blockchains separated from state control are going to win. They will win in differing degrees in different places depending on the degree of totalitarianism in that place, but they will win.

It’s self-evident. Because software eats the world.

My concern, as a patriotic American, is that every effort to stifle crypto, even if temporarily through the proposal of amendments that may not even get passed, is another nail in the coffin in the innovative future of American competitiveness.

I called my senators and I told them (well, their junior interns, I suppose), “look, I”m not expecting you to be a blockchain expert. I’m just telling you that this is a bullet in the head of American competitiveness for a generation. I hope you vote against it.”

By now, when this post is published, we will-hopefully-have a favorable resolution, but I stick by my original assessment.

This phase is only warming up.