The Ontario Securities Commission Flags Crypto Exchanges CEO’s Tweet to Law Enforcement

The Ontario Securities Commission has flagged Twitter posts to the law enforcement by the CEOs of cryptocurrency exchanges Kraken and Coinbase Global Inc., according to the Logic report.

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to Twitter to criticize the Canadian government’s emergency blockade of the truck protests and demand that decentralized, non-regulated crypto wallets be stopped and sent to Canada RCMP.

As previously reported by Blockchain.News, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has asked several Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges to block transactions on 34 crypto wallets related to the truckers’ “Freedom Convoy” protest, citing to the Financial Post report.

The restrictions require people who enter the country to be vaccinated against COVID-19, resulting in protests against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government’s mandatory vaccinations, triggered by truck drivers from the United States.

Last week, the Trudeau government blocked much of downtown Ottawa, centred on the National Parliament building, for nearly three weeks in response to the protests and provided financial support to affected businesses.

Meanwhile, Canadian financial institutions are required to conduct a thorough investigation of the relevant financial accounts of the protesters and freeze them.

Reportedly, the Canadian police have frozen 219 financial products, disclosed 57 entities, shared the addresses of 253 bitcoins with virtual currency exchangers. the RCMP said that the payment processor’s account was actively frozen “worth 380 million dollars ($3 million).”

A Kraken spokesman declined to comment on the case late Tuesday and said the exchange complies with all regulatory requirements and regularly responds to requests from law enforcement.

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