Bitcoin wallet refuses a court order to freeze funds in Canada, claiming that it is technically impossible. Truckers protesting Covid-19 restrictions in Ottawa have had their bank accounts seized, and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has used the Emergencies Act to encompass crypto transactions.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued a Mareva Injunction against Nunchuk, a self-custodial Bitcoin wallet, ordering it to freeze and disclose information about the assets involved in the Freedom Convoy 2022 campaign, as the Canadian government intensifies its efforts to halt the flow of funds to the demonstrators.
To deal with the ongoing anti-government trucker protests, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used the Emergency Act for the first time since it was enacted in 1988.
A national emergency is defined as “an urgent and critical situation of a temporary type that cannot be properly dealt with under any other law of Canada,” according to the legislation.
On Monday, February 14, he spoke to the press and said:
“It’s about keeping Canadians secure, safeguarding people’s employment, and restoring trust in our institutions.” Despite the fact that the legislation permits military involvement, Trudeau stated that the administration has no plans to do so. Instead, the government is concentrating on disrupting the flow of funding to demonstrators and prosecuting those who fund illegal gatherings.
Nunchuk responded that it is a “self-custodial, collaborative multi-sig Bitcoin wallet” and that it is a “software provider, not a custodial financial intermediary” in an official answer to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
The Nunchuk team went on to say: “We do not collect any user identification information beyond email addresses. We also do not hold any keys. Therefore, we cannot ‘freeze’ our users’ assets. We cannot ‘prevent’ them from being moved. We do not have knowledge of ‘the existence, nature, value, and location’ of our users’ assets. This is by design.”
In general, the start-official up’s response to a court request to freeze and reveal information on assets linked to the protests underscores the difficulties of censoring and enforcing cryptocurrency bans.
One of the most compelling arguments in favor of Bitcoin is anonymity, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada’s national police force, issued an order last week requiring all FINTRAC-regulated organizations in Canada to stop interacting with 34 cryptocurrency wallets linked to the Trucker’s Freedom Convoy.
After GoFundMe’s decision not to distribute $9 million raised on its platform, crypto became one of the most important ways to contribute to the truckers.
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