All images in this article are published with the permission of NobodyCaribou.
Given the stakes, it might not have been the ideal time to experiment with a relatively new fundraising tool, but when the opportunity presented itself, two intrepid Bitcoiners stepped up and enabled financial freedom with the help of others in the community
It would have been hard to predict this opportunity to showcase Bitcoin’s power as a protest tool, or the overwhelming response (with close to $1 million raised[1]), but when two fiat fundraising platforms being used to propel truckers protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Canada went offline, and the government started freezing bank accounts[2], the perfect storm for Bitcoin adoption was created.
“The trucker protest raised more money from Canadians in a matter of days than the Liberals could raise in their entire election campaign,” observed Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd on Twitter[3].
After GoFundMe[4] accounts linked to protest donations were frozen and GiveSendGo[5], which was also providing funds to the protesters, encountered problems with hackers, turning to bitcoin to raise and distribute funds in an uncensorable way seemed like a no-brainer.
And now that the Canadian government is preparing to enact the Emergencies Act[6], allowing it to freeze the bank accounts of those suspected of sending money to protesters, the value of a permissionless currency that’s out of the reach of the government is becoming clear. Canada’s minister of public safety has said[7] that at least 76 bank accounts have been frozen under the powers of the act, containing about $3.2 million.
A pseudonymous
