Trudeau takes another swing at Crypto in latest speech

Justin Trudeau has criticized the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, saying his pro-crypto stance was “not responsible leadership.”

Trudeau Slams Pro-Crypto Opponents

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is doubling down on his anti-crypto stance.

In a September 12 speech at the Liberal summer meeting in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, the Liberal Party leader took a shot at his new rival Pierre Poilievre, who was elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada on September 10. Citing Poilievre’s history of pro-crypto comments, which include calls to make Canada the “blockchain capital” of the world, Trudeau criticized the new leader, stating:

“Telling people they can opt out of inflation by investing their savings in volatile cryptocurrencies is not responsible leadership. By the way, anyone who followed that advice would have seen their savings destroyed.”

Like most of the world, Canada has struggled with rising inflation in recent months, registering an eye-popping 8.1% year-over-year increase in July, the highest level in 30 years. Poilievre, who had previously criticized the Canadian government for “creating $400 billion in cash out of thin air since 2020,” suggested earlier this year that increased use of cryptocurrencies could provide Canadians with “better money and financial products” and allow them to “choose away from inflation, with the option of choosing cryptocurrency.”

But while crypto proponents have long argued that digital currencies like Bitcoin are a hedge against inflation, in reality most have functioned as risk assets during the recent market downturn. Since Poilievre’s comments in March, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has fallen over 50%, maintaining a high correlation with traditional stocks.

Canada Continues Crypto Bashing

Poilievre’s fondness for crypto comes in stark contrast to the approach of the current Canadian government. In February, Trudeau invoked the Canadian Emergencies Act in response to the Freedom Convoy movement protesting the COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions. The unprecedented move allowed the Canadian government to freeze citizens’ bank accounts and blacklist several crypto wallets linked to the protests without court orders.

In response, several prominent crypto figures spoke out against the move. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Kraken CEO Jesse Powell both criticized the Canadian government for sanctioning crypto addresses and confiscating funds, and advised anyone affected by the development to transfer their money from centralized exchanges to non-custodial crypto wallets.

Surprisingly, the Ontario Securities Commission announced that it had reported Armstrong and Powell’s tweets to law enforcement, highlighting an aggressive stance toward those seeking self-custody of crypto assets. The move highlighted the Canadian government’s intention to bring all of its citizens’ assets under the control of FINTRAC, Canada’s financial intelligence agency, and potentially criminalize the possession of cryptocurrencies using methods outside of regulatory control.

However, since it is difficult to prove that a person has access to the funds in a non-custodial crypto wallet, criminalizing self-custodial crypto will likely be next to impossible. As such, the Canadian government has not taken any further measures to limit the use of non-custodial wallets. Still, for many crypto diehards, Canada became one of the anti-crypto capitals of the world after the government’s response to the Freedom Convoy protests. Trudeau’s latest comments will only strengthen this belief.

Disclosure: At the time of writing this piece, the author owned ETH, BTC and several other cryptocurrencies.