Canada’s war on Bitcoin 

BTC

$18,164

 appears to be backfiring as the country’s flagship exchange-traded fund (ETF) adds thousands of BTC.

Data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass shows that over the two weeks to Feb. 23, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF has increased its holdings from 28,854 BTC to 32,257 BTC — 11.8%.

Institutions shrug off Canada’s crypto crackdown

After a two-month lull in which its holdings actually modestly decreased, Purpose is back in fashion among institutional investors.

The about-turn comes against a backdrop of what many are calling an “advertisement” for Bitcoin — the Canadian government blacklisting private wallets and formally trying to silence exchanges advising users to take control of their private keys.

The reason is the lawmakers’ goal to monitor and seize the financial assets of anyone contributing to — or associated with those contributing to — the trucker protest movement.

“Canada warning everyone to get their coins off the exchanges because they will take them is the most incredible advertisement for Bitcoin I’ve seen in my entire life,” podcast host Dennis Porter wrote this week.

Samson Mow, chief strategy officer of Blockstream, meanwhile, took aim at the recent decision to keep the emergency powers that enabled the surveillance in force ad infinitum.

“Canada is a cautionary tale for why money needs to be money, and not a tool for surveillance. What’s legal or illegal can change with a hand wave of emergency powers,” he warned.

“If you’re not 100% sure you’ll always be on the right side of those in power, you’d better buy some Bitcoin.”

Foreign crypto firms have already been targeted as part of the government’s plan, notably United States exchange Kraken and hardware wallet provider Nunchuk, the former over a single tweet from CEO Jesse Powell.

Exchange BTC reserves fall to new lows

Beyond Canada, demand for Bitcoin from those using both retail and derivatives exchanges shows a clear direction — up.

Related: Bitcoin Mayer Multiple returns to July 2021 levels in fresh sign $37K BTC is a long-term buy

Data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant confirms that exchange balances have resumed a firmer downtrend in recent days and are once again at multi-year lows.

As of Feb. 22, the balance on 21 major trading platforms monitored by CryptoQuant was 2.37 million BTC.

Cointelegraph has often reported on the trend, which comes despite Bitcoin dropping over 50% versus all-time highs three months ago.