Canada’s Central Bank Attacks Bitcoiners For Opposing Financial Centralization

A recent story from ‘The Globe & Mail newspaper titled, “Bitcoin investors tend to have low financial literacy, according to BoC research,” went viral on Bitcoin Twitter and elsewhere for its ridiculous and anti-factual look at the Bitcoin community.

The Bank of Canada and Globe and Mail justify their argument using emotionally based ideological attacks disguised as logic. One of their key points boils down to the vilification of men, with the Bank of Canada stating that ownership of Bitcoin is “concentrated among young, educated men with high household income and low financial literacy…”

Some young, upper-middle/upper-class men own Bitcoin, that is not a valid argument. Unfortunately, it is being sold as one. This is a lazy smear against Bitcoin and the Bitcoin community. 

In the conversation on Bitcoin, the financial literacy of its holders is ultimately irrelevant. The more important question to get an answer to is whether the Bitcoiners are right, whatever their level of formal financial education. 

So far Bitcoiners have been right to adopt the technology. The numbers are readily available: if you were to have invested in Bitcoin between 2014 and 2015, you would be looking at an around 18000 percent gain by November 2021, or around 12000 percent at the current price of $50,000 CAD today. 

The next question is why are the central banks and legacy media attacking Bitcoin. The fact is the Bank of Canada has its own agenda in that they are researching a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) to potentially bring into Canada. We know this because it was recently revealed the Canadian government set aside research funding for a Canadian CBDC in the 2022 budget. 

The revelation that the Canadian government would fund CBDC research came in early April. However, even before this, back in mid-March 2022, the Bank of Canada announced a partnership with MIT for Canadian CBDC research and development. 

It’s important to compare these actions; the March announcement by the Bank of Canada and MIT, and by the Canadian government in April because it revealed how the Bank of Canada was acting independently and preemptively on CBDC development before the government. The BoC is able to do this because it is a quasi-private/quasi-government organization, and thus has a lot of leeway for independent action from the government. 

It makes sense, then, to find the Bank of Canada attacking Bitcoin and Bitcoiners, as Bitcoin is a fully functional electronic currency that is battle-tested, and ready for consumers to use. Whereas the Bank of Canada’s CBDC is still on the drawing board. 

Perhaps even more importantly, Bitcoin is also proven to be decentralized and outside the control of corrupt governments and institutions. Viewed in this light, the BoC, falling into the category of one of those corrupt institutions, would be threatened by Bitcoin as a competitor to their potentially upcoming CBDC, and they should. 

The National Telegraph has discussed at length why CBDCs are unacceptable, and incompatible with Western values and must be stopped, and you should check out this article if you want a more detailed breakdown of why.