On Wednesday, socially minded Bitcoin supporters from Kenya to Canada to Russia gathered for the last day of 2024. Oslo Freedom Forum As part of the Financial Freedom Pathway event to offer their insights on how Bitcoin can be a tool for those who need it most around the world.
Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer at Human Rights Foundation (HRF), the organization participating in the Oslo Freedom Forum, began today by discussing why Bitcoin is important in the context of human rights. He then read two relevant passages from Lynn Alden's book Broken Money: Why Our Financial System Fails and How We Can Improve It The author, a distinguished macroeconomic analyst, was invited to the stage.
Alden gave a brief overview of monetary history before noting that Bitcoin gives anyone, anywhere in the world, access to a free and open financial system. She also noted that Bitcoin, now 15 years old, has matured, become easier to use and is also very liquid, aspects of the network and asset that make it better suited to a human rights context than it was in its earlier days.
Christ's giftFounder Grundswil project, an organization that works to promote tolerance and empathy among diverse communities, then took the stage to deliver her lecture entitled “How Bitcoin Can Fund the Fight against Terrorism.” She highlighted how Somali women were being taught how to use Bitcoin to raise funds for the political campaigns of female political candidates in the country.
Noble NyangomaCEO of the company Bitcoin Innovation CenterSpeaking shortly after Massey, she discussed the work she does with refugees in Uganda, many of whom are not yet Ugandan citizens and therefore cannot open bank accounts in the country. She stressed that Bitcoin is essential for these refugees.
“With Bitcoin, no one will ask you where your national ID is,” Nyangoma said.
One of the most poignant conversations of the day came from Fred NaboorumTogolese activist and executive director of African Bitcoin Conference. She shared a harrowing account of how she once needed emergency surgery in Ghana and almost didn't get it because she didn't have enough money in local currency at the time of the surgery to pay for it.
However, she had enough money in her home country's currency to make the payment, but the hospital would not accept it. The point she was making was that Africa is financially divided due to the many different currencies on the continent, none of which can be used across borders.
Bitcoin fixes this, she explained, because it helps create a world – especially in Africa – in which the situation she experienced in that Ghanaian hospital could have been avoided.
Before lunch break, Ben Perrin, otherwise known as Bitcoin sessionsgave a presentation on how to use Bitcoin in a high-fee environment, and Alex LeeAn HRF team member announced the 10 winners of Bitcoin Development Fund grants for software developers who are creating tools that add to privacy on the Lightning Network, build decentralized communications and provide technology tools for human rights defenders.
afternoon, Bird wallet Developer Craig Raw has detailed a number of practical ways to use Bitcoin more privately, while Lorraine Marcel, founder… Bitcoin Dadaa virtual Bitcoin education platform and community for African women, shared stories of how Bitcoin has catalyzed remarkable changes in her students and in those her organization serves.
“Before Bitcoin, I couldn’t really see a real way to have financial freedom or independence for myself or my sisters at home,” Marcille said during her presentation.
She continued, saying that the organization is also using Bitcoin as a fundraising tool to help fund an initiative that provides feminine hygiene products and educational materials to female students in Kibera, one of the largest urban slums in Africa.
Kali, an anonymous software developer who created Cashews The protocol, an electronic payment protocol that provides greater transaction privacy using Bitcoin, provided an overview of how electronic cash works and how the privacy it provides could benefit activists.
In the middle of the afternoon, Christian KerolisInterviewed by HRF's Director of Financial Freedom It's the love I carrycommunity leader in Bitcoin Icase, a circular Bitcoin economy located in a town in South Africa. Ndamambi told Quirolles that before Bitcoin, he and many other people in his community had no way to save, which led them to not think much about their future.
“I tell people in my town, when you think about Bitcoin, think about saving for your children,” Ndabambi said.
Shortly after, Peter McCormack, the show's host What Bitcoin did Podcast, sat down with Mike Brock, President To be determined later V. Blok, and Anna Czechovich, Alexei Navalny's CFO Anti-Corruption Foundation And the leading non-profit Bitcoin adoption organization, HRF. The three discussed how bitcoin can help preserve democracy as well as the implications of the crackdown on privacy-focused bitcoin wallets in the United States.
“In order to be able to receive donations, (we) have to provide our donors with high-level security tools for payments,” explained Czechovich.
“If there is even a small chance that your personal data will be leaked to the government and they will put you in prison, then of course you will not donate. That is why privacy tools are so important, and at the Anti-Corruption Foundation, we are very concerned about that,” she added. “We are trying to do everything we can.” In order to provide safety for donors.”
“If we were deprived of these privacy tools, we would not be able to accept Bitcoin donations, because we cannot expose our donors to such great risk.”
Dulce Villarreal, CEO and Founder Satoshi Library (Satoshi Library), a Bitcoin hub that provides Bitcoin educational materials and classes as well as financial support to students of Bitcoin developers, stated that it is concerned about the fact that more than 50 million people live under dictatorships in Latin America and that Central bank digital currencies (CBDC).) will only empower the continent's authoritarian leaders.
So, they are on a mission to make Bitcoin everywhere by helping train people from all over the world to work on and support Bitcoin.
“Our mission is to make technical training on Bitcoin available in your native language,” Villarreal said. “At Librería de Satoshi, our goal is to foster the next generation of Bitcoin contributors, entrepreneurs, and educators.”
The day concluded with a friendly chat with Jack Mallers, Founder and CEO He hitsMatt O'Dell, managing partner at Ten31 And co-founder of OpenSats. The two discussed the importance of profitable Bitcoin companies contributing to open source developers, much like how Strike announced it would donate $100,000 to OpenCash Associationa non-profit organization that supports these developers, was founded by the aforementioned Cali.
“Working with HRF and coming here, there is a duty on me to make sure Bitcoin succeeds, even though it is not in the best interest of shareholders (or) in the direct interest of my company,” Mallers explained. “This is part of the game theory that makes the whole project successful. So, no matter your role, we're all on the same team. If Bitcoin were better, we'd all be better off for it.”
Powerful words at the end of a conference that included the voices of many who did their best to ensure that we are all in fact better off because of Bitcoin.