Canada on warpath with Bitcoin
The ongoing Freedom Convoy in Canada is slowly developing itself into a movement of Canada vs Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Strike & Reason
Govt of Canada has frozen bank accounts, suspended insurance of those, who are involved in the ongoing strike. This has made people to move to Bitcoin and altcoins, to fund themselves and their movement. This has made the Canadian government to impose controls on cryptocurrency platforms in order to take the control of this new economic change, but this isn't as easy as government thinks.
Government's limitation
A major limitation of controlling crypto is that the government can give instructions to cryptocurrency exchange platforms under its jurisdiction, but not to other, not even to the providers of crypto wallet that requires private keys / seeds. The limits of this control have sparked a new controversy.
Nunchuck Wallet Controversy
Just on February 18, 2022, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued a Mareva injunction to Nunchuck Bitcoin Wallet to freeze the bitcoins of those involved in the movement and extract their information. However, the latter declined, stating that it is only a software provider, and did not have access to the user's data or assets; they even mocked the effort and Canadian dollar, which sparked a row.
Kraken and Coinbase Controversy
Kraken's CEO Jesse Powell, and Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong even went ahead urging people to use noncustodial wallets for safety of their funds. Government can control exchange companies, but not the noncustodial wallets; so both CEOs were reported to the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), which is the authority of regulating securities. The OSC reported this to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which is now investigating the case.
Social Media Behavior
The Canadian government is being discredited by this behavior. On social media, supporters of the government are directly attributing the objections coming from all over the world, making their own international mockery.
International Incident
The President of El Salvador has also raised this strongly, as international organizations that have accused Nayib Bukele of human rights abuses for accepting bitcoin are silent on Canada.
Possible Conclusion
Time will tell what the future holds, but it seems likely that this struggle will strengthen not only cryptocurrencies in Canada, but also government control over the people.
