In a speech at CPAC, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) praised Nunchuk.io, a Canadian-based provider of self-custodial Bitcoin (BTC) wallets, for mocking the Canadian government’s lack of understanding of cryptocurrency after it received a demand to freeze wallets connected to the Freedom Convoy truckers — a demand it is technologically incapable of meeting.
Self-custodial wallets — the kind Nunchuk.io provides — are decentralized by design, and cannot be shut down or “frozen” even by the developers that created them.
Nevertheless, on February 17, the company received a letter Ontario Superior Court ordering them to do the impossible: freeze and disclose information about Freedom Convoy assets on Nunchuk wallets.
The company posted its response on Twitter.
Yesterday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice sent us a Mareva Injunction, ordering us to freeze and disclose information about the assets involved in the #FreedomConvoy2022 movement.
Here is our official response. pic.twitter.com/iuxliXhN5y
— nunchuk_io (@nunchuk_io) February 19, 2022
“We do not collect any user identification beyond email addresses. We also do not hold any keys,” wrote the Nunchuk team in its response.
“Therefore: we cannot ‘freeze’ our users’ assets. We cannot ‘prevent’ them from being moved. We do not have knowledge of the ‘existence, nature, value and location’ of our users’ assets. This is by design.”
The company closed off its letter with a swipe at the deteriorating value of the Canadian dollar.
“Please look up how self custody and private keys work. When the Canadian dollar becomes worthless, we will be here to serve you too.”
Speaking of which, we will add a non-email login option and make it a priority in our roadmap.
— nunchuk_io (@nunchuk_io) February 19, 2022
In a follow-up post on Twitter, the company said it was working on a method of login that did not involve email addresses, to provide an even stronger layer of privacy and security to its users.
Incredibly humbled that senator @TedCruz is sharing our message with the world.
On days like this we remember and honor all the pioneers that made it happen. Satoshi, @halfin and many others: thank you, look how far we have come.
Fix the money, fix the world. https://t.co/3yHT0I22Ar
— nunchuk_io (@nunchuk_io) February 25, 2022
In a speech praising the potential of Bitcoin at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) read out Nunchuk’s letter to the Canadian court.
Nunchuk said it was “incredibly humbled” that the Texas senator shared the company’s letter with the world.
“On days like this we remember and honor all the pioneers that made it happen. Satoshi, @halfin and many others: thank you, look how far we have come.”
“Fix the money, fix the world.”
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.
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