The decision of the Canadian government to activate the Emergency Measures Act, enabling banks and police to confiscate the personal wealth of citizens without the need for a court order, has naturally not gone unnoticed by Western societies.
And indeed it seems that things are getting out of hand.
Any protesters who are imprisoned in Canada for more than 8 days are given the opportunity to have their pets euthanized by the authorities!
It makes no difference whether one considers the protesters’ demands reasonable or not. The point is that if we accept that any sanctions for participating in a protest are legal and moral, then we accept that governments have absolute power over us.
What difference then is there between a democratic and an authoritarian government?
Jesse Powel
One of those who has been alarmed is Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, who has donated an entire Bitcoin to the protest movement, deeming the orders of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau immoral.
Why are we standing with Jesse Powell? Because he advised Canadians to withdraw cryptocurrencies from their exchange accounts if they believe the government has targeted them.
When asked by a Twitter user if Kraken is obliged to obey police orders and freeze assets without court consent, he replied that they are 100% obliged to comply.
Powell believes that any Canadian who is concerned about being linked to donations to Freedom Convoy should not hold their funds in any centrally regulated custodian.
“We can’t protect you,” he asserts with disarming candor. “Take your coins. Liquidate them or, for safety, place them in personal e-wallets.”
Not that Canadian authorities haven’t tried to freeze accounts from private wallets and force the companies that create them to disclose information about assets of individuals involved in the protest movement.
Yet this is simply not possible.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice sent a request to the group that created the nunchuk.io wallet and they have officially replied that this is not possible because they do not have custodial services.
They only provide the software. Therefore they cannot freeze assets, prevent currencies from being transferred, know information about the amount of funds or the identity of users.
They even troll them at the end, telling them that when the Canadian dollar becomes worthless they will be there to serve them!
You really feel embarrassed by the ignorance of the authorities on such fundamental issues.
Bitcoin’s Innovation
What is happening with Bitcoin is unprecedented in financial history. Bitcoin is not an organization or company. It has no CEO or a board of directors.
What it has accomplished, is without a budget or marketing stands. There are no executives or shareholders who have the ability to impose prohibitions, restrictions, guidelines.
And yet, it has managed to project itself more than companies or products with billions in advertising budgets.
How?
Either out of pure selflessness of members of the crypto community, especially in the early years, or because some expect benefits if they associate its presence with their professional activity.
Haters Are Bitcoin’s Biggest Promoters
Surprisingly, those who do the best job of promoting it are those who oppose Bitcoin.
Either with their impotent arguments that betray half-intelligence, if not deceit, or with their actions aimed at strengthening the establishment over civil liberty.
Apparently, a recent ”supporter” who has been unwittingly crowned is the Prime Minister of Canada.
By his decisions he has appointed himself as Bitcoin’s new Chief Marketing Officer.
Why?
Because his actions will make everyone realize that Bitcoin cannot be confiscated. It cannot be prevented from being transferred. It is easily stored at no cost by the individuals themselves who don’t need to trust anyone to hold money on their behalf, like banks.
Citizen’s Defense
The reason Bitcoin was invented in 2008, and not before, was because no one had figured out how to create money that no government would have the ability to prevent. But thanks to Satoshi, the founder of Bitcoin, this became possible.
For the first time in human history, ordinary citizens can defend themselves so effectively against the arbitrariness of power.
The problem is not only about deposits. Governments and banks can even confiscate your home or gold. Either legally because of debts or illegally because the regime suspects you are a threat.
Do not underestimate the fact that the majority of the world lives under authoritarian and corrupt regimes.
You also risk being driven out of the country by leaving your property behind due to a war conflict.
Those who lived through it, if they had Bitcoin, would not leave poor. Even losing your cell phone or not taking it with you to avoid suspicion, there is no problem.
You go to the next country or city and get a new one. You download a free app from the many available, enter your personal code and that’s it. The money is in the palm of your hand.
What can a government do?
- Prevent Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency holders from converting it into their own currency.
- Prevent banks from sending and receiving money from exchanges.
- Freeze the accounts someone has with an exchange if they are a citizen of the country they are ruling.
But that’s as far as it goes.
Under no circumstances can they block cryptocurrency transactions, freeze or confiscate your private wallets. It’s practically impossible. Nor, of course, can they alter the amount of currency in circulation.
If you have a bitcoin there is no way you will find yourself with anything less than 1/21m coins in relation to the total circulation that is going to exist.
Never!
Which of course a government cannot guarantee for the currency it issues.
The government barely seeks to achieve an inflation rate of 2%. Sometimes even higher. For anyone who hasn’t realized it, they deliberately erode the purchasing power of money because they think it boosts growth.
The new money that was created was injected into the veins of the financial system and caused increased demand for assets such as stocks, corporate debt and real estate bonds, artificially raising prices.
Asset prices – even in the most capitalist countries – do not fluctuate by market forces. Supply and demand do not play the role that many believe they do. The key factor driving them is the moods of the Fed and other major central banks.
It is interesting to watch the views of Thomas Hoenig, former governor of the Kansas State Central Bank.
When asked how many trillions of dollars were created by funneled air recently, he answered 6 to 7 trillion.
That is the amount added by the Fed in deposits and coins. This is another form of government debt, he claims. It’s all based on faith. If for whatever reason confidence in the dollar ceases, there is nothing behind it to back it up like gold.
Final thoughts
Restricting Bitcoin has never been about the environment tax evasion or terrorists. It’s about controlling and restricting freedom.
Governments and banks have reasons not to like Bitcoin.
- It liberates citizens.
- It makes them less dependent on their power.
- It makes them less vulnerable to the arbitrariness of the rulers and powerful banking institutions.
The discovery of these qualities by more and more people is the reason why Bitcoin is among the best performing assets, not only in the last decade but in all of investment history.
Today indeed, the price of Bitcoin is down about 40% from its all-time high. Yet it has more than doubled from what it was exactly 4 years ago.
The narrative you choose to focus on is shaped by your perspective on the issue of cryptocurrencies.
If you are one of those who have lost money either from trading, or because you entered a time when it was higher and sold scared, it may have been because you were not informed enough.
Invest your free time to educate yourself on the new ecosystem that has been created around Bitcoin. Find out what you have or what has passed through your hands. You might be surprised by its genius architecture.
Maybe you won’t. But that’s for you to decide. Not someone you read about on a site or saw on YouTube.
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