Bitcoin Is Protecting Human Rights Around the World

"It's an escape hatch from tyranny," writes the Human Rights Foundation's Alex Gladstein. "It's nothing less than freedom money."

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Bitcoin has won over some of America's best-known billionaires, and institutions worldwide are treating it as a serious financial asset. But bitcoin's rising price is only one part of the story.

Whether they know it or not, people who buy bitcoin are strengthening a tool for protecting human rights. This still relatively new form of electronic money is censorship-resistant, seizure-resistant, borderless, permissionless, pseudonymous, programmable, and peer-to-peer.

In bitcoin, transactions don't go through banks or financial intermediaries. They travel directly from one person to another.

Payment processing is done not by a regulated company such as Visa or Mastercard but by a decentralized global software network. Storage is handled not by a bank but by the users themselves.

Bitcoin issuance isn't determined by central bankers. The currency's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, set it to have an ultimate limit of 21 million. No one can ever print more.

Bitcoin transactions can't be stopped, and you don't need to reveal your name or address or telephone number to participate. You just need internet access.

In 2017, the economist Paul Krugman described bitcoin as "some fancy technological thing that nobody really understands. There's been no demonstration yet that it actually is helpful in conducting economic transactions. There's no anchor for its value."

Krugman lives in a sheltered environment in a liberal democracy with constitutional protections. His native currency is globally dominant and relatively stable. It's easy for him to open a bank account, to use a mobile app to pay bills, or to grow his wealth by investing in real estate or stocks.

But not everyone has that level of privilege. Around 4.2 billion people live under authoritarian regimes that use money as a tool for surveillance and state control. Their currency is often debased, and they are, for the most part, cut off from the international system that Krugman enjoys. For them, saving and transacting outside the government's purview isn't shady business. It's a way to preserve their freedoms.

Written and narrated by Alex Gladstein. Motion graphics by Lex Villena. Sound design by Isaac Reese and Regan Taylor.

Music: "Countdown" and "2049" by Synthwave Goose.

[SpiraSpiraSpira]

Paul Krugmann has almost never been correct about anything he has ever said in his entire life. It’s actually quite impressive, in a way.

[Frexican]

The only problem with this video is that they imply you can't get cut off from financial institutions for wrongthink in the United States.

[Gamerst]

Someone needs to ask Krugman “What’s it like being wrong all the time?”. He clearly has a lot of experience.

[dormouse]

“Control the nations currency, control the nation”

[watchdealer]

I'm so glad I'm libertarian. I early adopted bitcoin when it was at $300

[alegos]

This is the most concise argument for cryptocurrency i've ever heard.

Thanks for this!

[biFarm]

Me 5 min 37 sec ago: "Bitcoin is just another speculative bubble"
Me now: "Bitcoin is life, bitcoin is love"

[watchdealer]

I have made more with bitcoin than I did with almost all my other investments combined

[webuser]

Dang.... of all the arguments I've heard, this is the best.

[homewall]

Note that most bitcoin exchanges where they hold customer bitcoin wallets and allow you to move money in and out are likely FULLY regulated and FULLY under government authorities and monitoring. A bitcoin is only secure if you control the wallet and the associated encryption keys. Be sure to secure the encryption keys so you don't lose your own money AND to ensure government authorities don't take whatever you have the keys stored on and thus effectively do take your money. Every transaction in bitcoin is fully documented and public and so it's only as anonymous as your wallet is, and if you buy using your wallet in ANY commercial setting, that transaction will be tied to your identity and thus your wallet is no longer anonymous.

[deepvybes]

informative, straight to the point, and mind blowing. How could you not support bitcoin after watching this?

[GEMtrustNET]

Today it's not about return ON capital. Today it is about return OF capital.

[karozans]

"If any man's money can be taken by a so-called government, without his own personal consent, all his other rights are taken with it; for with his money the government can, and will, hire soldiers to stand over him, compel him to submit to its arbitrary will, and kill him if he resists."
--Lysander Spooner

[PhilMyu]

This video needs so much more recognition.
Anyone who says „Bitcoin doesn’t do anything useful, it’s just play money.“ needs to see this.
So they can choose to stay ignorant and privileged or recognize the value of Bitcoin.

[karozans]

Keep in mind that Krugman also said the internet will have as much impact on the world as the fax machine.

[thedancingveganatheist]

This is one of the best videos for Bitcoin. I love it.

[ashdraked]

As an oppressed American bitcoin helped me gain access to leveraged futures markets

[trying]

"For millions of people around the world, [Bitcoin] is an escape hatch from tyranny." It would've been nice then to hear first hand from some of them in order to understand how it's helped them.

[MBOFOYH]

Are they protecting the human right to self defense, and to keep and bear arms? How about the human right to keep what you earn, without taxes or theft?

[mattcollins]

I agree with the sentiment of this video, but it gets a couple of things wrong.

1- BTC is not really as anonymous as one might think

2- BTC can be seized. It has been many times

3- 21 million BTC is the current limit, but it can be changed if a majority of the miners agree to a change.

Accuracy is important.