The Human Rights Foundation, which has become known for its pro-cryptocurrency stances, persists and signs. Its head of strategy, like others, indeed believes that Bitcoin is a tool to promote democracy.
Bitcoin promotes democracy, says Human Rights Foundation
The Human Rights Foundation is a charitable organization that defends human rights internationally. The foundation confirmed its interest in cryptocurrency through the voice of Alex Gladstein, its head of strategy. In an interview broadcast yesterday, he explains that the privileges of wealthy people are indeed not limited to their finances, but also access to means of payment.
This is particularly the case in authoritarian regimes, where the means of payment are particularly controlled:
“In places where democracies have collapsed, I think it’s very much related to fiat currency, and I think bitcoin solves this problem somehow.”
There is indeed a tendency for authoritarian countries to control the means of payment of their citizens. China has banned Bitcoin mining, and it is now forbidden to make cryptocurrency payments in Russia. In South American countries, where hyperinflation reigns supreme, access to the US dollar (USD) is sometimes also restricted. This is no coincidence for Alex Gladstein:
“This is what China and Russia need to survive. They need censorship, they need capital markets shut down, and they need confiscation. Bitcoin makes it very difficult for governments to impose these things on their people”
We have seen it in Russia, whose economy is held back by international sanctions and power restrictions. Russians are turning to cryptocurrencies to stabilize their economiesincluding crypto accounts that are traded secretly.
The legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto?
The initial value proposition of Bitcoin, and that carried by Satoshi Nakamoto, was not based on the enrichment of users of the payment network, but on an ability to make use of its funds whatever the situation. We see that these ideals have persisted in the nearly fifteen years of existence of Bitcoin, and that the use made of it is evolving. depending on the economic and social context of the users.
The positioning of the Human Rights Foundation with regard to Bitcoin is in any case not new. At the end of 2022, the foundation announced that it was funding the Bitcoin ecosystem to the tune of $325,000. She also launched a development fund to promote bitcoin anonymity in 2020.
