Freedom Convoy raises massive sum in Bitcoin funding
Supporters of the Canadian truckers’ anti-vax protest have raised more than $900,000 worth of Bitcoin after the crowdfunding GoFundMe website blocked donations of around $10 million, according to organizers of the fundraiser.
After the GoFundMe funds were blocked, a Canadian Bitcoiner group known as ‘HonkHonkHodl’ started a campaign on crypto crowdfunding platform Tallycoin.
“Every transaction that’s done will be fully documented and transparent,” a liaison between the group and the truckers, known as NobodyCaribou on Twitter, said in a video on Wednesday.
More than 5,000 people have pledged funds totaling 21 Bitcoin via Tallycoin as of Friday. Most people donated in satoshis – the smallest denominator of the currency – while Jesse Powell, CEO of crypto exchange Kraken, donated one bitcoin to the HonkHonkHodl effort.
At bitcoin’s current price of $43,700, the truckers are due around $900,000.
“Fix the money, fix the world. Mandates are immoral. End the madness. Honk Honk! #FreedomConvoy2022,” Powell stated.
The Freedom Convoy activism originally started as a protest against a vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers, but demonstrators have now vowed not to leave Ottawa until all Covid restrictions are lifted.
A number of fundraisers have been set up to support the protesters.
On Tuesday, the leak website Distributed Denial of Secrets said it had posted more data on the donors which had given money to the truckers on the fundraising platform GiveSendGo.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been harshly critical of the trucker movement and even accused some of holding Nazi affiliations after swastika flags were spotted among the protests.
High-profile Americans, including former President Donald Trump and Tesla founder Elon Musk, have both spoken in favor of the trucker protest.
However, the White House last week urged Ottawa to “use federal powers” to lift the truckers’ blockades of border crossings.
