The never before invoked authoritarian emergency powers that president Trudeau announced on Monday give Canadian police the power to blacklist 34 wallets believed to be linked to truckers protesting in Ottawa.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, up to now a symbol of steadfast and fair reliability, has issued an order blacklisting 34 bitcoin wallets that are allegedly owned by members of the trucker’s freedom convoy protest.
According to an article on The Countersignal news website, the order demands that all Canadian FINTRAC regulated companies must cease transacting with any of the 34 blacklisted wallets. The police order affects around $1 million worth of bitcoin.
The RCMP order states:
“The Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police are currently investigating cryptocurrency donations being collected in relation to illegal acts falling under the scope of the Emergency Measures Act,”
The statement then goes on to say:
“Pursuant to the Emergency Economic Measures Order, under subsection 19(1) of the Emergencies Act, there is a duty to cease facilitating any transactions pertaining to the following cryptocurrency address(es).”
The list of addresses then includes mostly bitcoin, but also ethereum, cardano, monero, and litecoin wallets. The RCMP has not said how it would be able to prevent movement from or to these addresses, but it is likely that it would at least attempt to track any movement of funds.
Opinion
There appears to be a growing feeling among the powers invested in maintaining the current fiat monetary system, that the use of authoritarian powers will crush the fledgling cryptocurrency economy.
Using these powers to try and subdue and punish the Canadian freedom truckers is possibly one of the first moves in this direction. As this plays out it will be extremely interesting to see how successful this dictatorial government will be.
When Satoshi Nakamoto mined the very first bitcoin he was implementing a system that would grow to be out of the reach of any government or financial entity. He designed bitcoin to be a way for people to save themselves from the excesses of governments and banks that have used the current financial system at the expense of the people.
As people around the world see the situation in Canada play out they will hopefully be able to understand what is at stake there. The ability to stand up and protest ridiculous and damaging mandates is the right of all free people. Cryptocurrencies can play a big part in allowing them to fund this right to freedom.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
