Crucial news and crypto philosophy

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Coinmonks

5 min readFeb 21, 2022

As the world whistles ominous melodies of conflict, war, economic crisis and ecological disaster (same as always, but different), some news — if not most news — fall under the umbrella of crypto-news. So we’re going to talk a bit about some events that have crypto consequences. We’re going to focus on the Canadian trucker crisis and see how crypto-currencies can be a balancing tool in a dynamic world.

A double-edged sword: something that has or can have both favorable and unfavorable consequences.

What is going on?

The trucking crisis began as a movement by truck drivers to protest the economic consequences of health measures destined to reduce the spread and effects of covid-19.

Most imports and exports between Canada and the U.S. are delivered by truck, but the industry is short of drivers due to low wages, long hours and poor working conditions. Some anti-virus measures further reduce this number by prohibiting unvaccinated drivers from crossing the border between the two countries. This is logical but obviously has a strong impact on those who do not want to be vaccinated. While the number of unvaccinated truck drivers remains unclear, the idea is that even if some drivers are not vaccinated, the impact on everyone is clear, since the overall effect is: fewer drivers.

On the one hand, the government sees the big picture with the health measures as well as the needs of the rest of the country. On the other hand, the workers see their personal economic situation. They are worried and probably rightly so, pandemics tend to screw people up, both in terms of health and money.

But of course, it doesn’t stop there. No event can keep a rational and well-defined issue, because it is led by people… Far-right activists, as always, jump on every emotionally fueled movement to blame minorities, government policies and try to explain to people why they should be a little less intelligent and a little more xenophobic.

To make their voices heard, truckers are rightly opting for economic disorder by blocking major road points. They are also calling on people to help them financially to support the protest effort. But whatever the government thinks, it must react and protect the interests of all other citizens and their right to be free from the “freedom convoy”. So naturally, and because it is a democratic state, the government also opts for economic measures (instead of sending in the army, for example).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau uses the Emergencies Act to strengthen the power of the government in order to act against a group of already empowered citizens (by passion, numbers and trucks). So they freeze all the money from the GoFundMe page (about $9 million) that was supposed to help fund the effort. The banks have been ordered to withhold any assets from GoFundMe. The game is over. Or is it?

The idea here is not to take sides, because truckers are actually protesting to improve their lives, which is a legitimate goal. They are protesting low wages, being ignored by their government, and difficult conditions. While being key players in the economy of two major countries where most imports and exports are done by truckers. Maybe there is something worth listening to.

But then, like a bad photobomb on the most important photo of your honeymoon: the anti-vaxxers, covid skeptics and right-wing nincompoops are making it difficult for the government, the media and others to sympathise with the movement, and it’s probably making it impossible for the Canadian government to meet their demands. The situation has quickly escalated into a show of force from which the Canadian government cannot back down.

Some would say that “desperate times call for desperate measures”, but it is hard to agree with phrases that work perfectly for both sides… Since, if you can justify the actions you take out of desperation, you somehow should understand that the actions of your contextual rivals are also legitimate.

The crypto aspect

Okay, so what does this have to do with crypto, you ask? Well, when Justin Trudeau made the decision to call in the Emergencies Act and freeze bank accounts, the “freedom convoy” turned to bitcoin as a monetary middle finger to a supposedly repressive government.

In a way, good for bitcoin! It has been used by oppressed people, normal cool people, internet weirdos, internet cool people, terrorists, drug dealers (although the numbers clearly show that criminals don’t use crypto as much as we think), curious moms and dads, dreamy teenagers, adventurous traders, etc. Bitcoin is also used by people who disagree with their government and find a way around their sanctions. Like everything else that is good and bad, it is a double-edged sword. We don’t ask whether they are right or wrong.

What is important is that bitcoin and crypto-currencies empower people. Governments (especially democracies) are and should be challenged. It makes them evolve, reflect, re-evaluate and bring new issues to light.

The good news is that even if they challenge the government, Bitcoin is not magic and they can still blacklist Bitcoin addresses and force Canadian exchanges to seize assets from certain wallet addresses in case they move funds to the exchanges. Whereas on-chain analysis makes it impossible to hide the source of funds. Bitcoins can be used as they are, but no Canadian bank will be able to distribute the money from the exchange of those bitcoins. This limit sort of rebalances the power of cryptocurrencies and strengthens the cause of bitcoin, because we also know that we can’t let people do what they want to do, since that gives too much power to violent minorities who tend to take over.

Conclusion

It’s easy to see how crypto-currencies can be tools of freedom or war, depending on which side of the fence you are on. They can help maintain a balance between the cold rationality of a government and the hot emotionality of a suffering citizen. This is especially true in a world where governments had become extremely powerful and far-reaching through the digitisation of everything.

Some Canadians may lose confidence in their government and banks as a result. Others are not, but might be concerned about the effects of enough distrustful Canadians running to the banks.

As always, time will tell!

Have a great week

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Crucial news and crypto philosophy

What is going on?

The crypto aspect

Conclusion

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Written by Tom Shnaider