Episode notes
Someone kidnapped a Canadian crypto millionaire on a busy Madrid street this week. Zip ties. Sleeping pills. A GPS set for a torture site 6 hours away. Meanwhile, a man's wife stole $172 million in Bitcoin by watching him enter his seed phrase on home security cameras. This episode might change how you store your Bitcoin.We're also covering Canada's largest single-day crypto regulatory crackdown, what happens when the biggest Bitcoin payments company fires 4,000 people and then quietly asks some of them to come back, and why Quebec's immigration minister just went viral for comparing Canada to Switzerland.Check out Cory (and Luke) on their NEW show @the49thpod - wherever you get your podcasts! Canadian Crypto Millionaire Kidnapped in Madrid — Three Serbians with zip ties, sedatives, and a plan. France has already had 11 similar attacks this year. This is the new threat model for Bitcoin holders.₿ Square Auto-Enables Bitcoin for Millions of Sellers — Starting March 30, the coffee shop that uses Square might be accepting Bitcoin without even knowing it yet. Lightning Network. Default on. BlockFills Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy — $61 billion in 2025 volume. Backed by CME Group. Still blew up. The Chicago Blackhawks are a creditor. Wife Steals $172M Bitcoin Via Security Camera — UK High Court case: she watched him enter his 24-word seed phrase on their own CCTV. 2,323 BTC moved to 71 wallets in minutes. Breez SDK Introduces Seedless Wallets — Passkeys instead of seed phrases. Self-custodial. No 24-word backup required during normal use.️ $500K Per Homeless Person in Toronto — And the CBC says Canadians are unhappy because of social media. FINTRAC Revokes 23 Crypto MSBs in One Day — Canada's AML crackdown is no longer gradual. Finance Minister Champagne called it a "significantly increased pace of action."️ BC CRA Employee Charged — An insider with access to your taxes may have used it. This is what centralized financial surveillance enables. Kraken Freezes IPO — $2.2B in revenue. $20B valuation. Still won't go public. Bitcoin down 44% from highs is doing that. Block Rehires Laid-Off Workers — They fired 4,000 in February blaming AI. Three weeks later: "Actually that was a clerical error." Canada's $200M Spaceport Deal — Nova Scotia is getting a commercial launch facility. Quebec: "Better 9M Rich Than 15M Poor" — The immigration minister quoted Switzerland. The internet had thoughts. Super Visa Income Changes — Ottawa quietly changes who qualifies for parents and grandparents to stay 5 years per visit. Starting March 31. Ontario Homeowner Shoots Intruder, No Charges — A quiet but significant precedent in Canadian self-defense law. FBI + Thai Police: $580M Seized — 8,000 phones. 1,300 hard drives. Industrial-scale pig-butchering scams targeting Americans, run by trafficking victims. Chicago Man Resells Food Stamps Through Soda Arbitrage — The greatest free market story of the week. Newton Crypto / CIRO — Canada's regulated exchange journey: four years in, still on exemptive relief.️ "Only One Good Bitcoin Policy" — Buy it. Hold it. That's the whole argument. Subscribe and hit the bell — Canadian Bitcoin coverage every week. Join the conversation: https://discord.gg/m5vekwZr Follow us: @CanadianBTCPod
