RCMP Report Questions Bitcoin as Destabilizing

Written By Neil McKenzie-Sutter, Posted on April 26, 2024

Despite conflicting research and reports on the health of the global economy, a significant concern now stems from a recently declassified RCMP report. The report predicts a potential for dire economic and social destabilization in the coming years, focusing on several looming challenges that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) anticipates will herald this destabilization. Notably, the decentralized online cryptocurrency Bitcoin is listed among these harbingers.

The declassified RCMP report comes courtesy of assistant law professor at Thompson Rivers University, Matt Malone, via access to information request. The report is nine pages and heavily redacted, representing a quick read. The report carries a number of revelations regarding the level of awareness the Canadian government has regarding the precarious situation the country finds itself in presently. You can view a digital copy of the report here.

Made public in March 2024, the report represents what the RCMP refers to as a scanning exercise of the Canadian public, as well as the global political landscape June 2022, to late October, 2022. Given the timing, this scanning exercise outlined in the report might represent a response by the Canadian security apparatus to the Canadian Trucking Convoy protests from early 2022, although a highly specific reason for the ‘exercise’ isn’t provided.

Significantly, the RCMP scanning exercise emphasizes potentially significant social and economic destabilization occurring as result of an accumulation of challenges including climate change, technologically sophisticated criminals, erosion of trust and popular resentment of institutions, pandemics, as well as “paranoid populism.” 

The RCMP report further suggests it  identified threats in the evolving technologies of A.I., quantum computing, as well as ‘blockchain’ in the form of Bitcoin, about which the ‘exercise’ had this to say:] 

“Blockchain is a data-storing structure currently used in virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. Blockchain technology will enable and enhance other emerging technologies like AI, machine learning, additive manufacturing, and autonomous vehicles. Blockchain systems record transaction data on a ledger that is distributed (i.e. there is no central trusted authority – all nodes (users) in the network maintain a copy of the data set), immutable (i.e., once added to the ledger, transactions cannot typically be undone or altered), and agreed to by consensus (i.e. transactions can only be added to the ledger with the approval of specified notes in the network). The advantage of blockchain systems over other databases is that they can operate securely without centralized oversight or control (i.e. zero-trust).”

This insight by the RCMP is meaningful because it suggests the Canadian security apparatus is aware Bitcoin is beyond government influence.  This should be concerning to any government looking to dominate and restrict their populations compared with Bitcoin, decentralized network protocol. Compared with the current centralized fiat monetary regime gives governments and banks the ability to control access to bank accounts, and manipulate citizens’ financial lives. 

The 2022 Canadian Trucker Protests provided a practical, side-by-side comparison of Bitcoin and the fiat financial system. In one of the final acts of the protests, in an attempt to clear the protests, the federal government moved to freeze the bank accounts of more than 200 high-profile Canadians associated with the protestors. 

While preemptively freezing personal bank accounts and financial assets of Canadians not charged with any crimes was highly unprecedented and a massive violation of human rights, due to Bitcoin, the protestors were still able to participate in commerce unhindered. This incident which attracted global attention is why many Bitcoin advocates argue, the Bitcoin Protocol is an insurance policy against mass surveillance, corruption and authoritarianism. 

Few conclusions can be drawn from this aspect of the scanning exercise report, as the unredacted portion of the report merely discusses how Bitcoin operates. One implication, though, is that due to its inclusion in this scanning exercise, is that in one way or another, the Canadian security apparatus recognizes Bitcoin as a kind of security threat or vector toward increased social and/or financial destabilization. How exactly? That is not clear in the publicly available version of the report. 

This is the other insightful area of the scanning exercise; the RCMP anticipates significant and increased social and financial destabilization in Canada, and globally over the specific timeline of the next 5 years if the current trajectory towards a reduction of civil liberties continues.

“In the words of Emanuel Macron, we are about to see ‘the end of abundance.” Economic forecasts for the next five years and beyond are bleak. It is unclear exactly how economies will perform, but this period of recession will likely have a negative impact on the social and political world as well… The coming period of recession will also accelerate the decline of living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations. For example, many Canadians under 35 are unlikely ever to be able to buy a place to live. The fallout from this decline in living standards will be exacerbated by the fact that the difference between the extremes of wealth is greater now in developed countries than it has been at any time in several generations.” 

While considering the implications of the report,  the RCMP’s timeline for destabilization didn’t begin in spring 2024. Again, this was a secret report only made public in March, 2024. The report was published in fall, 2022; well after the Canadian Trucker Protests; and the RCMP’s timeline thesis for this destabilization was from before the Trucker Protest. 

A final analysis, the scanning exercise report leaves more questions than answers, given how heavily redacted the publicly available version is. What is clear is the Canadian security apparatus and government appear to be preparing for and anticipating a major event to occur over the 2022 – 27 time frame.

It is important to note this scanning exercise outlined in the report merely reflects a prediction model, and the RCMP could be invalidated over time. 

Neil McKenzie-Sutter

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