Justin Trudeau has vowed to ban cryptocurrencies in Canada after Canadians began rising up earlier this year and used cryptocurrencies to support the Freedom Convoy protests.
This week, Trudeau’s Department of Finance launched a review called the Financial Sector Legislative Review On The Digitalization of Money. The purpose of the review is to assess the risks to “monetary sovereignty” posed by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
“The digitalization of money, assets, and financial services which is transforming financial systems and challenging democratic institutions around the world create a number of challenges that need to be addressed,” the department warned in a notice to potential contractors.
Reclaimthenet.org reports: The notice did not mention the “Freedom Convoy” protests earlier this year. The government used the Emergencies Act to freeze $7.8 million held in 267 bank accounts and 170 crypto wallets owned by supporters of the protests.
“In the last several months there have been a number of high profile examples, both around the world and here in Canada, where digital assets and cryptocurrencies have been used to avoid global sanctions, evade government oversight, and fund illegal activities.
“Raising broader risks such as risks to monetary sovereignty and the ability to conduct monetary policy; competition risks if economic power becomes concentrated in issuers; environmental risks due to power consumption; and illicit finance risks including sanctions circumvention, money laundering, cybercrime, and tax evasion.”
The deadline for the report is 2024 and it is not yet clear the amount of money that will be spent on the review.
