Candidate For Canadian Prime Minister Supports Bitcoin, Pierre Poilievre Buys Lunch With BTC

Canadian PM candidate Pierre Poilievre buys shawarma, pays in Bitcoin. (Screenshot of @AndrewLawton Twitter)

JAKARTA – Canadian Prime Minister candidate Pierre Poilievre from the Conservative Party is reportedly giving his support for the world's largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC). This was stated by Poliievre in his recent campaign.

Poilievre bought lunch using Bitcoin at a popular and crypto-friendly restaurant. The action was caught on a video, which went viral on social media. In making the payment, he used the Lightning Network to send some Bitcoins to a small restaurant called Tahinis to pay for the chicken shawarma.

Reporting from CryptoGlobe, Tahini's is a family-owned restaurant that invests all of its savings in Bitcoin. The restaurant chain was created by brothers Aly and Omar Hamam, who claim bitcoin exposure is critical to network expansion in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation.

Tahini's standard bitcoin strategy has been used by other companies, including Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, which has more than 125.000 BTC in its treasury. The restaurant chain has also installed bitcoin machines at each location to encourage employees and customers to buy crypto. However, it does not accept BTC payouts because it wants to encourage people to hold.

In his campaign, Poilievre is said to want to get support from the wider crypto community. In addition, he is also a pro-crypto figure, as reported by CBC News.

“The government is destroying the Canadian dollar, so Canadians should have the freedom to use other money, like bitcoin,” Poilievre said in his campaign. Furthermore, Poilievre also said that cryptocurrencies would be an option to get out of dollar inflation.

In addition, South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol who is a crypto supporter has raised cryptocurrency issues including lowering the income tax from crypto, and has received support from the younger generation of South Korea. However, in the next few years, it is possible that cryptocurrencies and blockchain will become interesting themes for campaigning.