I was wrong about cryptocurrency

Recently I explored a cynical perspective concerning the future of cryptocurrencies. Given the new information I have come to learn, it seems that cryptocurrencies are more durable and revolutionary than I had previously suggested.

Several weeks ago, the Canadian government announced it would be freezing the bank accounts of protestors who were present in Ottawa during the demonstrations. Cryptocurrencies, which made up a bulk of the contributions to the Freedom Protests, were liable to be seized by the Canadian state as financial assets. However, the Canadian government was unable to reach all private cryptocurrency holders.

I had previously thought that all cryptocurrencies could be frozen by the Canadian government. This was concerning to me since a decentralized store of value must be free from government interference.

However, those who hold cryptocurrencies on physical storage devices (commonly referred to as “cold wallets” or “private wallets”) are out of the Canadian government’s reach.

Due to the decentralized nature of blockchain technologies, it is technologically impossible for the state to seize one’s cryptocurrency assets when they are kept in personal storage rather than an online wallet unless the physical storage is itself seized. This would require a warrant to search one’s property and have one’s possessions confiscated by the state, the most extreme level of government control.

Allowing citizens the basic right to privacy and security of their finances seems like a reasonable precedent for currency regulation since free transactions between mutually consenting peoples is a cornerstone of freedom, tolerance and prosperity. Through this economic freedom, all communities, backgrounds and social groups should be able to coordinate themselves with one less oppressive barrier dictated by the establishment and the state.

With authoritarianism on the rise as the world appears to redefine its understanding of freedom and individual liberty, the fundamental privacy offered by cryptocurrency is a light in the darkness for human civilization.