Canadian truck drivers heading to the United States must be vaccinated following a government mandate, or lose their jobs. In response to these measures, the truck driver launched the convoy through Ottawa, the nation's capital. This was initially thwarted by GoFundMe and the Canadian police, but the crypto community decided to help.
The BBC reported today that the protest had been declared a state of emergency by Jim Watson, ottawa's mayor. According to Watson, the protest was "completely out of control". Police are currently outnumbered by protesters.
The protesters were supported by a GoFundMe page designed to provide supplies for truck drivers. However, after the intervention of Canadian police, a GoFundMe page was suspended and the truck driver's fuel was stolen by police.
At the request of the police, GoFundMe stopped donating to the protest. This has certainly angered donors who supported the cause. Nearly 10 million Canadian dollars collected were taken first; GoFundMe wants to put the money into other charities.
Investors don't just stop and complain. It was only then that the platform withdrew the funds and returned them to the initial backers. The answer to the central party that blocks the transaction? Bitcoin.
Thanks to the decentralized nature of Bitcoin, no one has power over the fund. Therefore, the police and the Canadian government were unable to intercept the donated funds. Investors see this too.
Someone with the alias 'Honkhonk Hodl' created a donation page for this reason through Tallycoin, a platform where people donate Bitcoin instead of Canadian dollars. This allows donations to proceed without interference from the police or other government bodies.
Thanks in part to very generous donors, who donated 2.2 Bitcoins, donations have now risen to more than 880,000,000 satoshis. This equates to 8.8 Bitcoins, or 330,000 euros. This donation will be donated directly to the truck drivers, without the intervention of the center.
Finbold reported that the group should coordinate on how the funds were used. All bitcoins collected are stored in wallets that require a lot of signatures to spend the collected money. This way, the wallet eliminates failure at one point. It also forces the group to coordinate on how the money is used, as no individual has the ability to transfer Bitcoin."
There is only a small problem related to conveying the value of Bitcoin to truck drivers. If Bitcoins are used to buy supplies, they must be physically delivered to truck drivers, and ottawa's mayor can stop them.
Now that Ottawa's mayor has declared a state of emergency, the city will be given additional powers. An example is equipment for emergency services.
The BBC, which reported on the state of emergency, said the mayor did not give specific details on what action could be taken. "Police on Sunday said they would step up law enforcement, including the possible arrest of those trying to help protesters by bringing them supplies such as fuel, toilet paper and food," the BBC said. So it is now becoming more difficult to funnel supplies to truck drivers.
Bitcoin's recent up in value has coincided with good news. The Canadian branch of KPMG, one of the world's four largest accounting firms, has officially added Bitcoin and Ethereum to the company's portfolio.
Benjie Thomas of KPMG Canada praised the burgeoning crypto sector in the press announcement:
"This investment reflects our belief that institutional adoption of crypto assets and blockchain technology will continue to grow and become a regular part of the asset mix."
It is not yet clear how many Bitcoin and Ethereum tokens are involved. After all, big names like those companies taking steps to officially embrace cryptocurrencies are very positive news. This adds to the list of companies like MicroStrategy and Tesla that have also accepted bitcoin in such a way.
Another positive movement in the crypto world came from the North American country when one of the candidates for Prime Minister seemed to want to take the nation forward in terms of digitization. Pierre Poilievre, who is currently the Member of Parliament for Carleton, said: "I've learned a lot about #Bitcoin."