By Alicia Maher
The Terrorist Funding Regulations have been expanded to encompass cryptocurrency transactions to demonstrators, giving government the right to seize bank accounts.
Canada and the Emergency Act
Invoking the Emergencies Act, Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, possesses the authority to block the Freedom Convoy demonstrators’ bank accounts and monitor big and questionable transactions, especially cryptocurrency.
Freeland remarked in a media briefing on 14th February that this new effort against the demonstrators expands the definition of Terrorist Financing regulations. It is directed towards crowdfunding sites and the payment services that facilitate their operations.
According to the statement, these reforms apply to all types of transactions, particularly digital assets like cryptocurrency. Via fundraising portals GoFundMe and GiveSendGo, demonstrators had raised almost $19M in total. Nevertheless, those monies could not approach the convoy, prompting some to create a Bitcoin-based fundraising campaign.
From the Tallycoin Bitcoin fundraising tool, the HonkHonk Hodl organization raised 22 Bitcoin worth approximately $1M. HonkHonk Hodl’s Tallycoin page was closed on 15th February after reaching their fundraising target. That money is scheduled to be delivered to demonstrators shortly.
However, based on Michael Thalen of The Daily Dot, GoFundMe collaborated with Canadian authorities and repaid donations. At the same time, GiveSendGo encountered a data leak that revealed the identities of tons of names of people that made donations to the Freedom Convoy. The money belonging to the convoy is still unaccounted for at this point.
According to BBC News, Legault had warned before Trudeau’s declaration that using the Emergencies Act may add oil on the flames. Trudeau emphasized that the urgent authorities would only be used briefly and in a very precise way.
This morning, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association argued that the Prime Minister had overstepped his bounds when invoking the Emergencies Act. The statement read that the federal government has yet to meet the benchmark required to trigger the Emergencies Act.
Benefits of the Emergency Act
This law establishes a strong and explicit standard for excellent purposes: the Act authorizes the authorities to skip usual democratic systems. This requirement is yet to be met. For the time being, it’s uncertain which payments would be banned. During a media briefing, Fintrac was mentioned merely as a source of information across every crowdfunding service.
Activists of crypto, like Pylon Holding Company founder Preston Pysh, had also laughed at how the Freedom Convoy has shown how easy it is for people to use the coins they endorse. Bitcoin values have risen by 2.6 percent in the last few hours, trading at $43,667.