The expanded rules are in response to ongoing "Freedom Convoy" protests, started by Canadian truck drivers opposing COVID-19 vaccination mandates. The protests were partly funded by GoFundMe, which discontinued allowing donations, and GiveSendGo, the Christian crowdfunding platform that had its donations frozen, and was later hacked, exposing that over 50% of donations for the Canadian protest had actually come from the United States.
"If your truck is being used in these illegal blockades, your corporate accounts will be frozen, the insurance on your vehicle will be suspended." said Freeland.
Source: ZDNET
Canada Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Chrystia Freeland has announced the government is broadening the scope of the country's anti-money laundering monitoring and terrorist financing laws to cover crowdfunding platforms and the payment service providers they use.
"These changes cover all forms of transactions, including digital assets such as crypto currencies," she announced during a press conference on Monday night.
"The illegal blockades have highlighted the fact that crowdfunding platforms and some of the payment service providers they use are not fully captured under the proceeds of crime and terrorist financing act.
"Our banks and financial institutions are already obligated to report the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada or FINTRAC. As of today, all crowdfunding platforms and the payment service providers they use must register with FINTRAC, and they must report large and suspicious transactions to FINTRAC."
Not everyone was thrilled with the move, however.
