Joël Lightbound addressed the Canadian Parliament with a call for a new perspective on cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin. During a speech that lasted over a minute, Lightbound urged members of parliament to consider a different approach, emphasizing the significance of studying Bitcoin. As a Bitcoin owner himself, the Canadian Member of Parliament (MP) made this plea on the 15th anniversary of the pioneering decentralized currency.
Lightbound’s Plea for Understanding Bitcoin
However, he clarified that he was not encouraging anyone to invest in the digital currency due to its volatility. Lightbound also took the opportunity to express his gratitude to the pseudonymous creator of the Bitcoin network, Satoshi Nakamoto. He praised Nakamoto’s innovative peer-to-peer, decentralized value transfer protocol for providing a means for many families to protect their wealth from currency devaluation and offering a mechanism for the financial redemption of the masses. In his view, Bitcoin’s emergence after a major financial crisis in 2008 exemplifies the progressive ideals that underpin its existence.
“Bitcoin is the most recent seminal work in the computer science field in the last three decades.”
– Jack Dorsey, former Twitter CEO
To support his perspective, Lightbound quoted former Twitter CEO and current owner of The Block, Jack Dorsey, and Gary Gensler, the current chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Lightbound read out Dorsey’s remarks on the Bitcoin whitepaper, where he stated that the decentralized protocol has been the most recent seminal work in the computer science field in the last three decades. He also shared a comment from Gensler when he was a blockchain professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In the statement, the current SEC boss lauded Bitcoin’s potential to instigate positive change by reducing economic disparities and promoting financial inclusion for underbanked populations.
A Wave of Regulatory Scrutiny
Lightbound’s submission follows a rising wave of regulatory scrutiny within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, leading top centralized crypto exchanges to flee the country. In an email forwarded to its customers, popular Bitcoin trading firm Kraken announced the closure of its operations in the country.
- Kraken will suspend deposit functions by November 30, 2023.
- Investors will no longer be able to fund their accounts using cryptocurrencies such as USDT, Dai, WBTC, WETH, and others.
- Withdrawal functions for these highlighted assets will be discontinued by December 4, 2023.
Kraken is now joining the ranks of a growing number of Bitcoin exchanges opting to exit the North American nation. Furthermore, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Binance, also disclosed its decision to halt trading activities towards the end of October.
