Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau enacted the Emergencies Act yesterday. The situation unraveling from the trucker-led protests has been persisting for almost a month now. The protesting of COVID restrictions has created more anxiety and fear out of the Canadian Parliament, especially from Trudeau. The restrictions have created an unsustainable environment for the truck drivers dealing with COVID mandates.
The economy and supply chain is effectively in a bottle-neck, and stakeholders are beginning to panic. The protests are shutting down cross-boarder activity and has brought downtown Ottawa to a halt.
The response from the government is now causing a lot of people to think more critically when it comes to their own personal situations. This is no doubt an indicator of failed leadership. While other countries begin to loosen their restrictions on their citizens, it seems like Canada is doubling down.
Emergencies Act
The act gives the government short term authority and power it does not have under normal circumstances. These “special abilities” relevant to the situation include broadening rules on public travel, mobilization of law enforcement, and the broadening of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws.
It gives the federal government power to implement “temporary” measures to ensure safety and security during national emergencies.
The powers this emergency response removes from Canadian citizens is primarily focused on finances and transactions, therefore involving crypto. The Canadian government has stepped in to assert their powers and extend oversight after the large number of donations provided to the protestors of the Freedom Convoy. The measures for the emergencies act are being taken under an “urgent” situation.
“The Emergencies Act, which replaced the War Measures Act in the 1980s, defines a national emergency as a temporary “urgent and critical situation” that “seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it.”
cbc.ca
The government is bringing out all the stops as the pressure continues to build. The protests are effecting the Canadian economy, the boarder, supply chains, and more. The protest from the truckers is a demonstration to show how the government’s COVID restrictions have caused these exact problems for 2 years, and now they’re making an example of it.
Donations coming in to support the truckers have been massive. GoFundMe is blocking and returning the nearly $10 million in donations in dollars and BTC, which caused donors to move onto a different site GiveSendGo which coincidentally suffered a hack that shut down the site and leaked information of all donors.
The Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, made her controversial announcement covering all the rulings of “anti-money laundering and terror financing”. Therefore making all crowdfunding platforms to register with FINTRAC, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.
“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.”
Chrystia Freeland
These restrictions are a massive breach on Canadian citizens. It will allow for the “temporary cease of financial services to any accounts suspected with the furthering of trucker led blockades, urge financial institutions to report suspected accounts, and able to suspend accounts without notice.”
Key Takeaways
This is a massive advertisement for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and crypto in general. Your money isn’t safe in a bank. Under the Emergencies Act, the bank can immediately freeze or suspend an account without any court order. Also, under the terms of the act those banks are safe from any penalties.
It is important to think about the ongoing financial situation at large in light of this situation. Inflation in Canada is also extremely high if anyone hasn’t taken a look at their housing bubble and their inflationary issues. It is also no secret that Canadian leadership is also drastically understating inflation, like the US, and putting most of the blame of supply chain woes.
“the annual pace of inflation climbed in December to 4.8 per cent, a pace that hadn’t been seen since September 1991. Macklem told senators that the annual inflation rate could stay “uncomfortably high” around five per cent over the first half of 2022, noting the impact that will have on lower-income Canadians as prices rise for gas and food.”
Canadian Press
Turkey, Argentina, Venezuela, Lebanon are all suffering from protests and riots over living conditions amidst hyperinflation. This problem has been brewing and consistently becoming worse for decades. Ever since the GFC that started in 2008 and “ended” in 2010 it has also become worse and worse. Fast forward to today and we’ve gone fully parabolic on money supply.
Inflation around the world is extremely high and people are suffering as a result. Countries and nation-states that provide the best living conditions for their citizens and provide opportunity benefit as people begin to move for better conditions.
This general thesis was popularized in the book the Sovereign Individual, and it has never been more appropriate.
What Does This Have to do with Crypto?
Rewind back to January 3, 2009 when the very first Bitcoin block was mined, the Genesis Block. This block contained the message “Chancellor on the brink of second bailout for the banks.” This headline was chosen as a message and is indicative for *why* Bitcoin (BTC) was created.
Crypto is entering into the next phase of “adoption”. Just look at what is going on in El Salvador, Russia, the US. There are many US states intending to pass favorable crypto regulatory framework.
Institutions are beginning to pile in, several ETF products are available, and many new users being onboarded via centralized exchanges on a daily basis. People are starting to jump on board, while others remain hesitant and wary of it.
The number one worry should be what people are seeing in Canada, and the citizens of countries suffering from hyperinflation. The smart people are learning and understanding what Bitcoin and crypto provides for individuals on a personal level, and in a global capacity.
“The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts. Their massive overhead costs make micropayments impossible.”
Satoshi Nakamoto
