Hong Kong Police have frozen $9 million from Spark alliance, a crowdfunded platform that supports protesters in the region.
Hong Kong police freeze assets of a crowdfunded platform that supports the protesters
Protests in Hong Kong are not slowing down, on the contrary, the protests are intensifying with the passage of time. The protests were triggered by a bill introduced by the Hong Kong government that would allow them to detain and extradite people to mainland China. With the passage of time, the protests have been deteriorating as the police have turned to the use of tear gas and other instruments.
Now the authorities have frozen 70 million Hong Kong dollars (9M USD) of Spark Alliance. The platform had raised the funds through crowdfunding and assisted the protesters by providing them with living subsidies, medical items and equipment such as gas masks and other items.
The police allege that the company has been working under the guise of supporting protests while it has been laundering the funds. The police claim that the platform is luring teenagers to fuel its money laundering schemes. The police have arrested four people that are linked to the foundation and seized over 300,000 in Hong Kong dollars. HK$130,000 were seized in cash while HK$165,000 were confiscated as receipts for supermarket coupons, laser pointers, helmets and gas masks.
The Spark Alliance has confirmed the arrests but denies police accusation. The alliance “condemns” the police’s attempt to smear the platform name and denied that the platform was not involved in any money laundering.
Several lawyers took the alliance’s side in the matter questioning the motives of the police. Many experts predict that the police is trying to cripple the protests by any means possible. Lawmaker James To Kun-sun stated that the police should provide credible evidence otherwise, it would give the public reason to suspect its motives.
Bitcoin could prevent this
Bitcoin, unlike bank accounts, does not depend on intermediaries to support transactions or to manage the account. A Bitcoin address can be used from anywhere anytime as long the person has a device connected to the internet. This gives people the power to keep their financial activity private and secure.
Bank accounts are not as reliable as they appear as even the CFO at PayPal was banned by the Bank of America without any explanations. He received a 30-day notice to withdraw his funds. Bank accounts are always targetted by authorities in case of political instability and prove how obsolete the monetary system is.
Bitcoin on the other hand, despite having a volatile price is the most reliable solution that works 24-hours and your addresses cannot be frozen by a third party. The network provides more privacy than any bank account and way cheaper transactions.
