What started as a protest by Canadian truckers over Covid-19 limitations has developed into a viable catalyst for US cryptocurrency policy change.
Protests in Canada’s capital were repressed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s move to freeze the leaders of the Freedom Convoy 2022’s bank accounts and digital assets.
Apart from putting the Freedom Convoy to a halt, the crackdown prompted renewed Republican efforts in Washington to keep the government out of people’s crypto wallets. Thus, according to Politico, at least one Republican House member has filed legislation to avert a similar government crackdown in the United States.
Republican politicians and proponents of digital assets are exploiting the Ottawa event to claim that since digital assets are not controlled by any government institution, they are an instrument for civil liberties.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, stated: “There is a reason why these petty authoritarians the world over despise Bitcoin and cryptocurrency: they cannot control them. The new extreme left’s strategy is that if you do not cooperate, they will ruin your reputation and your fortunes.”
Fundraisers are increasingly turning to Bitcoin
Following the cancellation of the Freedom Convoy’s GoFundMe fundraising website, fans flocked to another campaign sponsored by Bitcoin proponents to raise donations for the convoy.
Within a day after its start on crowdsourcing platform Tallycoin, the new campaign had gathered more than $1 million in Bitcoin to cover truckers’ food, accommodation, and other basic expenses as the protest reached its third week.
To halt the flow of cash, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada’s national police agency, has issued an order prohibiting any FINTRAC-regulated firms in Canada from engaging with the wallets.
However, the blocked Bitcoin associated with Canadian truckers moved, defying authorities’ demands to freeze the money. It is unknown if the assets were paid out for fiat or remained locked on those crypto trading sites.
Finally, a more general conclusion may be drawn from this occurrence, emphasising both the limits of a government’s capacity to hinder transactions on decentralised platforms and the limitations of such systems’ ability to avoid such sanctions.
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