I'm sure the petition has quite a bit to do with their statement, but it is good to hear someone with some government finally admitting this.
Crypto can not be shut down, not without shutting down the internet. Even then people could conduct crypto transactions via mesh networks.
If the internet gets shut down cryptocurrencies will be the least of their problems. Whole nations would grind to a halt. Shortly millions of millennials would look up from their play stations and go outside to see what the hell is going on.
The civil unrest and economic ruin that would happen in any sort of internet kill switch scenario is a pretty strong deterrent. Either way, the banksters are going down. If they try to halt crypto trading it will result more hangings I think. That might not be a bad thing but I think they would rather avoid it.
If the internet gets down, this will be the last of the problems!
I also think that cryptocurrencies can not be shut down.