Canadian Truckers Raise $880k in Bitcoin, Protest Against Vaccine Mandate

A collective named as “Freedom Convoy” composed of truckers from Ottawa, Canada, has raised roughly 21 BTC, worth $880,000 at current prices. The amount was crowdsourced from 4,877 donors, after the group’s GoFundMe account was blocked by request from Canadian authorities.

The group was formed in a protest against ongoing COVID-19 vaccine requirements for truckers who are re-entering Canada by land through the U.S., mandates which were introduced by the Canadian government on January 15, 2022. The ongoing protest has since spread, garnering the support of controversial figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said that in such similar cases, crypto “cannot be stopped.” Late last month, Musk, a known supporter of crypto projects such as $SHIB, tweeted the following:

Canadian truckers rule

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2022

BTC Sessions, a crypto YouTuber from Calgary, began a fundraiser in response to the GoFundMe ban on Freedom Convoy. The fundraising campaign was done through Tallycoin, a native crowdfunding platform for Bitcoin. The campaign has garnered donations from crypto industry figures such as Kraken exchange chief Jesse Powell, who chipped in 1 BTC.

 “Fix the money, fix the world. Thank you for leading by example. Mandates are immoral. End the madness. Honk Honk!” Powell said in a note from the donation.

The use of Bitcoin and crypto to express a political contention is not new. In this case, donations are being crowdsourced for a collective protesting against a nation’s vaccination mandates. While opposition to vaccines may be contentious, the fact that crypto is being used to override government control rings back to the early days of cryptographic technologies being used by “cypherpunk” movements which harkens back to the early 90s. Cypherpunk movements have been known to foster civil disobedience, especially in the face of censorship and monitoring. In recent news, a similar use of crypto, in this case with NFTs and Ethereum, was done in support of Julian Assange’s legal battle with the U.S. government.

At the time of writing, the funds are being directed to a multisig wallet whose keys are managed by a group of individuals supporting Freedom Convoy, which includes BTC Sessions, Canadian Bitcoiner Greg Foss, Jeff Booth, Francis Pouliot, CEO of Bull Bitcoin, and Nobody Caribou, a pseudonymous organizer who will act as liaison between the Bitcoin supporters and the protest’s organizers on the ground.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.