Politicians in the United States and around the world condemned the Canadian government after it announced it would use anti-terrorism laws to quell a peaceful protest of its own citizens.
“We are broadening the scope of Canada’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules, so that they cover crowdfunding platforms and the payment service providers they use,” said Canadian deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland at a press conference yesterday.
Protestors show their support for the Freedom Convoy of truck drivers who are making their way to Ottawa to protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates by the Canadian government on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, in Vaughan. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP)
“These changes cover all forms of transactions including digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.”
“The illegal blockades have highlighted the fact that crowdfunding platforms and some of the payment service providers they use are not fully captured under the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act.”
The Canadian government’s use of terrorism laws against a peaceful movement of its own citizens drew international condemnation.
The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, said Canada had lost its credibility on matters of democracy and freedom.
“Are these the people who like to give lessons to other countries about democracy and freedom?” asked Bukele. “This is one of the top ranking countries in the ‘democracy index’? Your credibility on these topics is now worth 0.”
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) said he would introduce legislation in Congress to protect American citizens by preventing a similar occurrence in the U.S.
“Our office will be introducing legislation in the US House of Representatives shortly to protect Americans from this version of overt theft,” said Davidson.
“Please let your Member of Congress and Senators know.”
Two candidates for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, J.D. Vance and Josh Mandel, also condemned the Canadian government’s actions.
“This is why crypto is taking off,” said Vance. “The regime will cut off your access to banking if you have the wrong politics.”
“If you think Biden is above this level of tyranny think again,” said Mandel. “Yet another reason why freedom-loving Americans should advance the cause of Bitcoin.”
“Trudeau has shown himself to be a psychopath,” said Arizona senate candidate Blake Masters.
The Canadian deputy prime minister’s implication that the government can somehow block cryptocurrency payments is something of a bluff.
There is no way for the government to intercept or freeze cryptocurrency transactions that are conducted via decentralized wallets.
While some cryptocurrency wallets are tied to centralized exchanges and can be blocked, others are completely decentralized – nothing more than unique strings of letters and numbers known as “hashes.”
Anyone who knows a wallet’s unique hash can send funds to that wallet, from anywhere in the world, and no government can stop that transaction.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.