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Following the weeks-long Freedom Convoy protests in Canada, the government has finally ended the Emergencies act. The government had deemed these protests illegal and even allowed banks to freeze accounts linked to the protests.
After the protestors turned towards Bitcoin, the Canadian government seized dozens of cryptocurrency wallets.
Canada to revoke Emergencies Act
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The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, stated that the Emergencies Act was no longer necessary, as the protests were no longer deemed an emergency. He further added that the existing laws would guarantee people’s safety.
The Prime Minister has also started unfreezing bank accounts linked to the protestors. The process will also involve the crypto wallets of those who had resulted to using Bitcoin (BTC/USD).
Canada’s assistant finance minister, Isabelle Jacques, also confirmed this as a parliamentary committee session on February 23, saying,
Information was shared by the RCMP with financial institutions, and we were informed yesterday by financial institutions that they were unfreezing the accounts. The vast majority of accounts are in the process of being unfrozen, subject to any new information that the RCMP may have.
Crypto entangled in Canada’s Freedom Convoy protests
After a GoFundMe account with $9 million in donations was blocked, the Freedom Convoy protestors turned towards Bitcoin, and 21 BTC was raised for the cause. However, the Canadian government started cracking down on cryptocurrency wallets.
The deputy Prime Minister in Canada, Chrystia Freeland, announced that all payment providers and crowdfunding platforms including digital asses would be required to register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and report large transactions.
Around 34 cryptocurrency wallets linked to the protestors were frozen, which prompted some crypto sector players to advise the protestors to use self-custodial wallets. The CEO of Kraken, Jesse Powell, urged those linked to the protests to withdraw their funds from the exchange. Coinbase’s CEO also reiterated similar remarks urging users to use the exchange’s self-custodial wallet.
However, these remarks might have landed the two in trouble, with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) saying that the two had been flagged for their tweets against the Canadian government.