After using emergency powers to freeze bank accounts linked to protesters during the Canada convoy protest, the Liberal government is now moving to shut down another avenue Canadians use outside the traditional banking system: crypto ATMs.

Buried in the Spring Economic Update 2026 is a proposal to ban cryptocurrency cash machines across Canada. Ottawa claims the move is needed to fight scams and money laundering.

“To protect Canadians by shutting down a primary method for scammers to defraud victims and for criminals to place their cash proceeds of crime, the Spring Economic Update 2026 proposes to ban crypto ATMs,” the document states.

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Crypto ATMs allow users to buy digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum using cash or debit cards, giving Canadians a way to access decentralized finance without relying entirely on banks or online exchanges.

In 2022, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act to freeze accounts tied to convoy-linked protests, a move that sparked national outrage and civil liberties litigation. 

Now, with one signature in a fiscal update, the same government wants to eliminate a tool that exists outside conventional banking channels, which colluded with the governing Liberals to freeze assets of their own customers participating in or supportive of peaceful convoy demonstrations against COVID-19 restrictions. 

The Liberals have not yet explained how the ban would be enforced, what would happen to existing machines, or whether Canadians will be compensated for businesses forced to remove them.