Dear SEC, Thank you for the opportunity to review this rule proposal & considering public opinion. I would like to clearly state that I strongly oppose the rule proposal Proposed Safeguarding Rule (S7-04-23). I strongly advise against its implementation. There are several reasons why I strongly oppose the rule: 1. Security of the American people. This proposal would put Americans' private information at risk. Just like American citizens can hold and legally store Gold, the same should apply to cryptocurrency. Using Ledger or another private hosted wallet is the right of the individual. Some may prefer to hold on a "centralized exchange". BUT, many prefer a completely "decentralized" way to hold crypto (like a Ledger or Metamask wallet). SEC does not have the legal authority to audit Ledger and other hosted wallets. The rule should not apply to decentralized crypto exchanges. In a decentralized crypto exchange the owner of the crypto currency holds the cryptological keys to that cryptocurrency and as such has sole custody of that cryptocurrency and takes full responsibility for the custody of that cryptocurrency. Developers who utilize free, open source code and software to update and maintain the network do not custody nor are they custodians of any cryptocurrencies. If sufficiently decentralized both the network and cryptocurrencies residing on it are not custodied by any individuals except the owner of the cryptocurrency who controls the ability to transfer or transact with that cryptocurrency through the ownership of their private keys. Furthermore: The only way to protect Americans from foreign hackers is for sites to not capture their name, phone, address, or any other data about them. The NSA and NIST work hard to try and keep Americans safe from foreign hackers. If an agency were to mandate that sites capture, host, or disseminate Americans private information, it would be directly undoing the hard work the NSA and NIST do to protect them. Millions upon millions of Americans have been directly harmed by data breaches, if you want to hurt more Americans, just mandate that more central repositories of their data be created. Here's a real specific example. Kroll was hired to handle communications with creditors of some bankrupt, government licensed, corporate entities. They or those they worked with got hacked multiple times and now the users the government is supposed to protect are getting phished and sim swapped. Why? Because centralization hurts Americans. The same centralization that harmed everyone through going bankrupt is quite the similar centralization which is now getting everyone victimized through abusing their leaked phone numbers, email addresses, names, and perhaps even balances. Decentralized systems are the best way to reduce the harm of data breaches. Period. There's no central repository to crack into. Laws should be made to amplify the power of decentralized systems to protect Americans. 2. The SEC is completely over-stepping it's boundaries on Cryptocurrency/BlockChain technology and has adopted "Regulation by enforcement" approach. Courts are ruling against your agency in very important cases. Judge Torres in SEC v. Ripple just ruled against your Agency, and deemed that XRP is NOT a "security". Judge Netburn called your agency "hypocrites" and that you "lack a faithful allegiance to the law". Judge Neomi Rao in Grayscale v. SEC said that your agencies denial of Grayscale's proposal was "arbitrary and capricious". Very strong words from our courts, and your agency is suffering greatly in public image as well. When will your agency start to listen to the Courts and follow the laws? 3. SEC lawsuits and proposals are HURTING, not "protecting" American public. Just as Congressman Emmer correctly stated to Chair Gensler. Paraphrasing: "What happens when SEC sues a crypto company (or entity)? the price of that asset tanks". I am an individual American investor and SEC has LITERALLY harmed me as an investor on 3 specific cases. SEC v. Ripple (XRP), SEC v. Richard Heart/HEX/PulseChain, SEC v. Coinbase (multiple assets I hold were deemed "unregistered securities" in this lawsuit). In EVERY one of these lawsuits filed, my crypto holdings were directly impacted in a negative way. Thus, your agency is only harming me and millions of American investors. Thank you for your concern, Bob Revick J.