As the crypto chaos continues, Liberals remind voters of Poilievre's praise for bitcoin
CBC
As cryptocurrency prices plunge and some of the exchanges they trade on pause withdrawals, the federal Liberal government is eager to remind voters that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre once touted the asset class as a way to "opt out" of inflation.
Cryptocurrencies surged during the pandemic as investors pumped stimulus cheques into the market. But the whole industry faces an uncertain future now that FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges, is in bankruptcy and its disgraced founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is facing a series of regulatory probes.
Another exchange, BlockFi, is in disarray. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also reportedly investigating other major crypto players, Binance and Coinbase, following the FTX implosion.
The result has been massive price pressure on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like ethereum.
The price of bitcoin is a fraction of what it was when Poilievre announced in March his plan to make Canada the "blockchain capital of the world" — a reference to the system that records bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions.
Speaking at a shawarma shop in London, Ont. that accepts bitcoin as payment, Poilievre told voters earlier this year that "Canada needs less financial control for politicians and bankers and more financial freedom for the people."
"Choice and competition can give Canadians better money and financial products. Not only that, but it can also let Canadians opt-out of inflation with the ability to opt-in to crypto currencies. It's time for Canadians to take back control of their money," he said.
During his run for the Conservative leadership, Poilievre's campaign said he wants to foster "a new, decentralized, bottom-up economy" by creating a more permissive regulatory environment for crypto.
He said he'd work with the provinces and territories to eliminate a "cobweb of contradictory rules" that govern products like bitcoin and blockchain. Poilievre also said he wants crypto to be treated like gold and other commodities for taxation purposes.
And the Conservative leader has put his money where his mouth is.
According to a federal ethics commissioner filing, Poilievre held an investment in bitcoin as of May 4. He declared an ownership stake in the Purpose bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), an investment that closely tracks the price of bitcoin.
Bitcoin is trading at roughly $16,500 US — nearly 75 per cent lower than its value in November 2021.
That means if you invested $10,000 in bitcoin at this time last year, you'd have just $2,500 left of that initial investment — an eye-popping loss of value for any financial product.
If Poilievre still owns a piece of the bitcoin ETF, his investment would be worth 60 per cent less than what it traded for in May, when he first disclosed the holding.
This story is a collaboration between the Investigative Journalism Foundation and CBC Saskatchewan.
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