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360 sats \ 0 replies \ @gladstein OP 19 Jul 2022 \ parent \ on: I'm Alex Gladstein. CSO of the Human Rights Foundation. AMA bitcoin
Most people under authoritarian regimes immediately grasp the power of a currency that is not controlled by a government.
Of course, they are very curious: how is it beyond the control of the state? What gives it value? Why is it volatile? How do I get some?
The onboarding process takes time, months or years, and demands patience and an open mind :)
Decentralized inheritance is a big problem to tackle. Keep exploring this!
As for the stabilized Bitcoin: I think it's 50-50 that the bounty gets claimed by the end of the year.
Favorite BTC book = Bitcoin is Venice
Favorite non-BTC book = The Looming Tower
Most helpful book = The Mandibles was quite clarifying, even though it is fiction
Advice = Keep pressing on, even if things seem tough :)
I wouldn't change Bitcoin.
If I could snap my fingers and change something, I'd help another billion people understand Bitcoin for what it is. The rest would fall into place after that :)
Could be amazing. I think Bitcoin could be a boostrap for helping these kind of energy-harvesting technologies.
Thanks!
Bitcoin was on the radar for us and for me for a long time. Julian Assange spoke at our Oslo Freedom Forum event in 2010 and a few months later, Satoshi made their fateful last public post. In 2011 we saw Wikileaks start to use Bitcoin to fundraise. In 2013 we helped Ukrainian democracy advocates use Bitcoin as they began to build the Maidan square movement. In 2014 we started accepting Bitcoin donations. In 2016, we became convinced of the connection and in 2017 held our first workshop about bitcoin and human rights at the Oslo Freedom Forum. I'd say it was more of a slow realization than a eureka moment.
The trend everywhere is towards mobile connectivity. In countries like Sudan, only 20% of the country has mobile internet access. That will shift to 70%+ by the end of the decade. This will have a massive impact as hundreds of millions come online.
Bitcoin will play a big role in this. It will give anyone with mobile internet the power to be their own bank. The question is what does that look like? Will they simply use Binance? Or will they use Bitcoin in a self-custodial way?
I think Bitcoin's privacy is improving. For power users, they can achieve "pretty good privacy" today. But it's far from adequate and is probably all things considered one of its weakest points today.
The main problem is that most Bitcoin users engage with fully KYC'd financial services like exchanges. So even if they do self-custody, their activity is known. Lightning withdrawals and deposits from exchanges is a nice step forward. But while sending privacy in LN is strong, receiving privacy is still not great. So if you withdraw from let's say Kraken they know things about your Lightning activity and ID. Blinded paths, which should be activated in the coming year, will help address this vulnerability.
I'd recommend that Bitcoiners everywhere learn about CoinJoins as well as Lightning but mostly that they learn how to use Bitcoin without KYC. The best way to preserve your privacy is not to link your real-world ID to any Bitcoin in the first place.
Thank you!
- After years of advocacy and analysis HRF considers sending information into North Korea one of the best things you can do to help. Military and political solutions to the NK problem are unthinkable or unlikely. So in the meantime we can help North Koreans help themselves by making sure they have access to more information: flashdrivesforfreedom.org
Bitcoin is likely playing a nascent role in cross-border payments between South Korea, China, and NK, but it's too early too tell
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Complicated question. In certain CFA-zone West African countries there is a "France dégage" movement calling for an end to the system. In places like Togo, the entire human rights movement is based on financial freedom. But still, the overwhelming number of people have lived with the CFA their entire lives for generations so it's a bit like the water they swim in. Hard to imagine anything else. More awareness is needed. The best we can do is educate ourselves on the outside and help them build Bitcoin solutions.
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Yes. My next one is on Fedimints and their potential impact on the developing world and comes out next week!
Hard to say. There are so many!
One powerful example was Hong Kongers in exile using Bitcoin to support human rights advocacy inside the city from abroad.
Another is a Burmese activist who escaped from his country using BTC as a lifeline.
Yet another is a Russian independent media outlet that is using Bitcoin to help sustain its operations after it was forced to leave Russia.
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