> a law appropriating tens of billions to create a crypto deterrent would crash prices on its own

Doubt that. All that would happen is driving the industry underground or overseas. It wouldn't be the first time a government overplayed its hand and failed to acknowledge that bitcoin is a global technology.

https://data.nasdaq.com/data/BCHAIN/HRATE-bitcoin-hash-rate

That isn't slowing down. I have exactly 0 faith that governments across the world could start from scratch and cooperate to outpace and then surpass the private sector in a chip fabrication project, no matter how many billions they throw at it.