Keep crypto corruption of Canada

Why we need a Crypto Ban

Corruption always innovates. While we haven't yet seen a Canadian Prime Minister launch a "meme coin" to benefit from pseudoanonymous investments like President Trump has, the technology exists, and the legal path is wide open. Now is the time to upgrade our democracy’s firewall before the virus takes hold. Let’s talk it through:

1. How Crypto Hides the Money Unlike a bank account, which is tied to your identity (name, address, social security number), cryptocurrency lives on a digital ledger called a blockchain.  Think of the blockchain as a public spreadsheet that lists every transaction ever made—but instead of names, it uses "wallet addresses" (long strings of random characters like 0x71C...).  This creates a dangerous loophole called pseudonymity. While we can see that money moved from one wallet to another, we often have no way of knowing who owns the wallet. A corporate lobbyist or foreign government can transfer millions of dollars to a politician’s digital wallet instantly, without a bank ever verifying their identity. The money arrives, the politician cashes it out, and the public is left in the dark.
2. A Backdoor for Foreign Influence Direct transfers aren’t the end of the story. Cryptocurrency has rapidly become the preferred tool for dark money in American politics. Crypto-savvy politicians like President Trump are launching "celebrity coins" and "political meme coins" that have no real value, but let others spend in ways that massively inflate the value of the coins they’ve issued themselves, without any direct transfer. If a foreign government or corporate lobbyist wants to buy favor, they don't need to make a potentially illegal donation —they can just buy millions of dollars of a politician's personal coin, driving up its value and enriching the official instantly.^1,2,3,4,5,6
3. An open Canadian door to "American-Style" Corruption Current Canadian ethics laws are designed for gifts and stocks, not digital assets created out of thin air. There’s NO law that stops an MP, a Prime Minister, or even a political party creating their own meme coin, and letting any number of shady sources bid its value up.⁷
4. Politics poses unique crypto risks There are plenty of good reasons ordinary people and activists may want to make an anonymous transaction; some argue crypto currency can be highly beneficial for those living under authoritarian governments.⁸ But these benefits disappear when people with the power of government are using crypto. Allowing them to conduct pseudoanonymous, difficult to trace financial transactions isn’t protecting them from state oppression; only hiding their conflicts of interest from the voting public they represent.
5. MP conflicts of interest are real and growing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has disclosed personal holdings in Bitcoin ETFs, while campaigning for crypto adoption. Several prominent Liberal backbenchers have disclosed holdings too.^9,10,11 For now, no one in Canada has anywhere near the conflicts of politicians south of the border; but they’re held back from doing so by shame and norms, NOT the law.
6. Pressure for loose regulation is rising The crypto lobby is already here, and working to ensure the only legislation Canada passes around crypto creates a "growth framework" for the industry, not safeguards from corrupting politics.¹² Cryptocurrency companies spent at least $119 million lobbying for regulations in their favour in the last U.S. election; as Canada begins regulating the industry, some companies may be tempted to spend on individual politicians too.¹³ We need to close loopholes now to ensure that when Parliament debates the future of money, they are thinking about Canadians, not their Coinbase account.

The Solution

We are calling for a strict, modernized update to the Conflict of Interest Code:

• Total Divestment: MPs, Senators, and their senior staff must divest from all digital assets (or place them in a blind trust that sells them immediately).
• No "Minting": A specific ban on creating, issuing, or promoting any digital asset or token.
• Spousal Transparency: Mandatory real-time disclosure of crypto assets held by immediate family members.