Bitcoin Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYYh4aPXAM

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.

In China, if you type or utter one wrong word, the Communist Party might eliminate your financial services. This devastating outcome creates a chilling effect for dissidents and creative minds, who are forced to use the country's increasingly centralized digital economy.

In Hong Kong or Russia, donors to human rights organizations can see their bank accounts suspended and funds seized.

Over the past few months in Belarus and Nigeria, nationwide protests have broken out against tyranny and corruption. In both places, activists raising money to support the democracy movement have had their bank accounts frozen.

Just a few days ago, in Burma's latest coup, the military shut down the banking system and turned off the ATMs.

For activists living under state repression, bitcoin provides a way to preserve their money in cyberspace, locked away by encryption, safe from devaluation, in a network that has never been hacked. For them, it's digital cash and digital gold rolled into one.

And in Cuba, Nigeria, China, Pakistan, Venezuela, Russia, Turkey, Argentina, Palestine, Zimbabwe, and elsewhere, bitcoin is catching on and helping people escape tyranny and currency collapse.

In the past few months, Belarusian activists have used bitcoin to defy the regime by sending more than 3 million dollars of unstoppable money directly to striking workers, who then convert it locally to rubles in peer-to-peer marketplaces to feed their families as they protest the country's dictatorship.

In October, a feminist coalition in Nigeria raised the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars in bitcoin to buy gas masks and protest equipment as activist bank accounts were being turned on and off.

In Russia, the opposition politician Alexei Navalny has raised millions in bitcoin as Vladimir Putin maintains strict control over the traditional financial system. Putin can do a lot of things, but he can't freeze a bitcoin account.

In Iran and Palestine and Cuba, individuals face sanctions or embargoes because of the misdeeds of their corrupt rulers. Bitcoin gives them a lifeline for earning income or receiving remittances from abroad.

Some Venezuelans, having watched their country's currency evaporate due to hyperinflation, are converting their resources to bitcoin's digital format and then escaping. With their savings secured by a password that can be stored on a flash drive, phone, or even memorized, they've started new lives in other countries, taking advantage of a technology that refugees throughout history could only dream about.

The citizens of democracies also face financial controls, deplatforming, and an ever-expanding surveillance state. But those lucky enough to live in open societies can vote, sue, protest, and write, and those methods might allow them to protect their financial freedom and privacy. The billions who live under authoritarian governments don't have the same options.

Unlike democracy, bitcoin is universally available. You don't need to have a particular passport or bank card or voting status to use it. No government can turn off your bitcoin if it's threatened by your ideas.

We are in the middle of a great digital transformation, a time when cash, one of the last bastions of privacy and freedom, is disappearing. People rely increasingly on easily surveilled apps such as Apple Pay and AliPay—and, perhaps soon, central bank–issued digital currencies as their primary medium of exchange.

Bitcoin provides an alternative to our increasingly centralized financial system. It gives any activist or journalist a way to raise funds without censorship, a way to save despite the corrosive impact of excessive money printing, and a way to teleport value without permission.

Bitcoin wasn't as powerful five years ago, before it had global liquidity. But today, exchanges have popped up in every region, daily trading volume exceeds that of Apple and other popular stocks, and peer-to-peer marketplaces such as Paxful and LocalBitcoins have extended their reach, enabling users to sell bitcoin for local currency almost anywhere in the world.

Maybe you don't need bitcoin. Maybe you don't understand bitcoin. Maybe PayPal, Venmo, or your bank account serves your needs just fine.

But don't write off bitcoin as simply a vehicle for financial speculation. For millions of people around the world, it's an escape hatch from tyranny—nothing less than freedom money.

https://reason.com/video/2021/02/05/bitcoin-is-protecting-human-rights-around-the-world/

Just a few days ago, in Burma's latest coup, the military shut down the banking system and turned off the ATMs.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2021/feb/01/banks-closed-atms-shut-down-in-myanmar-following-military-coup-2258129.html

In the past few months, Belarusian activists have used bitcoin to defy the regime by sending more than 3 million dollars of unstoppable money directly to striking workers, who then convert it locally to rubles in peer-to-peer marketplaces to feed their families as they protest the country's dictatorship.

In Russia, the opposition politician Alexei Navalny has raised millions in bitcoin as Vladimir Putin maintains strict control over the traditional financial system. Putin can do a lot of things, but he can't freeze a bitcoin account.

Many a time have I heard of claims such as Bitcoin could highly boost a country's economy, Bitcoin could address poverty, Bitcoin could address unequal distribution of wealth, and so forth. There may be a certain amount of truth in each or even all of them but to generalize or label Bitcoin as such could actually be misleading or simply an exaggeration.

This makes a case for bitcoin being literal "freedom money" for many in the world who have been deplatformed or had accounts frozen by banks. It cites political opposition to Vladimir Putin utilizing it for funding. Dissidents in nigeria, iran, palestine, cuba, belarus & many other places the same.

I wish the political angle wasn't so heavily emphasized in this day and age. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are amazing stand alone inventions without mentioning political implications of the technology. Crypto expands peoples horizons & changes the way we think about money for the better imo.

Bitcoin for me is a good back up asset since it is future proof and secure. What is happening nowadays are just signs and warnings to those who are thinking of Bitcoin as just normal as fiat money and they will soon realize the true meaning of financial freedom.

Bitcoin for me is a good back up asset since it is future proof and secure. What is happening nowadays are just signs and warnings to those who are thinking of Bitcoin as just normal as fiat money and they will soon realize the true meaning of financial freedom.

I wish people would stop having such great expectations from a coin that was not designed for any of those, it's not a magic golden goose, it's not a magical safe that won't open no matter what, it's not something that can protect its user from abuse.

Bitcoin is not protecting human rights around the world claiming that human rights have improved significantly and cited the example of economic development human rights must be linked to the right of citizens to freedom and justice. Our constitution says freedom of thought and conscience is guaranteed freedom of the press is guaranteed It also calls for the right of every citizen to freedom of speech and expression. In that case the state cannot legislate which is against this freedom.

It is funny that the reason why bitcoin was created is now seen as "also" in the eyes of many people. Bitcoin was created to have some power over your own finances, it was created because no censorship, no permission from someone else, no borders, basically it was global currency for the "people" and not money of the governments.

And eventually the price of one bitcoin grew so rapidly and so high that people started to think that maybe this is an asset to make money, they buy it and they sell it and they try to make a profit in fiat, they want to put 1k fiat in and get 2k fiat out, so that became the most popular thing bitcoin is used for and people forgot the main reason why it was created. Hopefully overtime the more people that own bitcoin, the more people will start realizing the power of bitcoin, it is not just the price of bitcoin that matters, what it stance for matters as well.

It's such a huge claim. Sometimes I cringe on certain claims made by Bitcoin fans. I don't necessarily disagree with them, but sometimes they just seem to portray Bitcoin as something heaven-sent, capable of addressing the most fundamental issues of humanity.

Many a time have I heard of claims such as Bitcoin could highly boost a country's economy, Bitcoin could address poverty, Bitcoin could address unequal distribution of wealth, and so forth. There may be a certain amount of truth in each or even all of them but to generalize or label Bitcoin as such could actually be misleading or simply an exaggeration.

At the end of the day, Bitcoin is simply a tool, a generally neutral tool which could protect a certain human right such as the right to privacy, for example, as much as it could also be a tool used by a criminal to get away from being lawfully prosecuted and brought to justice.

Reading your post mate made me also think of it which has also a fact. I do agreeing that some of us or maybe some part of me are claiming the same thing too, too cringe and too exaggerating. To be honest bitcoin is a great tool to generate income or profit but it doesn't protecting human rights around the world but only the privacy of a person who are engaging themselves in bitcoin platform. But on the other side too, we couldn't blame some of our colleagues that has this kind of opinion when it comes to bitcoin.

This is a big claim. Some bitcoiners disclosing that they hold bitcoins are being violated, physically attacked, tortured, and robbed of their bitcoins. That's already a violation of human rights on my books. Anyways, bitcoin is still helping people get involved in matters concerning international finances and investments. It helped improve the quality of life of some people who were lucky and smart enough to get on it at the right time. Take for example some people in Venezuela and similar countries experiencing hyperinflation. They find some utility in bitcoin that they can't find on their own currency or even USD since it's banned. There's a lot that bitcoin offers, though with every aspect that it helps to improve I'm sure there's always an opposition to it.

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This makes a case for bitcoin being literal "freedom money" for many in the world who have been deplatformed or had accounts frozen by banks. It cites political opposition to Vladimir Putin utilizing it for funding. Dissidents in nigeria, iran, palestine, cuba, belarus & many other places the same.

I wish the political angle wasn't so heavily emphasized in this day and age. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are amazing stand alone inventions without mentioning political implications of the technology. Crypto expands peoples horizons & changes the way we think about money for the better imo.


The above point sounds terrifying btw. Maybe its time to begin discussing potential methods to curb these forms of abuse?

Bitcoin is protecting human rights around the world.

Bitcoin is actually protecting the real human right. The human they talk about in tv and new is just a game. The real human right is happening when you save your money and your are not going be worry about the total supply and printing money it's happening when you are free to send and receive any amount of money you want to anyone while none can track you and see your real identify. protecting the people privacy is a great of the human rights.

Television 2021 becomes propaganda to broadcast news that is incompatible with the understanding in society regarding the point of view of bitcoin. because society really wants as
part of bitcoin presence. But television turns everything upside down and sees bitcoin as a threat, including the mainstream media which is always mixed with political elements in order to maintain authority as a form of truth. there needs to be a strong association to fight this problem. Human rights can only be upheld if media guidelines are judged fairly. and provide real news.

Yes, Bitcoin gives you all of this and more, financial freedom and the preservation of privacy in addition to transparency, governments and politicians like centralization, control and monitoring of everything, and Bitcoin does not give them that, so they hate Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is the beginning of the era of financial freedom, getting rid of the old system that is based on tyranny, confiscation of money, and imposing censorship on financial movements, and with the presence of Bitcoin, these autocrats will not be able to do anything.

Yes, Bitcoin gives you all of this and more, financial freedom and the preservation of privacy in addition to transparency, governments and politicians like centralization, control and monitoring of everything, and Bitcoin does not give them that, so they hate Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is the beginning of the era of financial freedom, getting rid of the old system that is based on tyranny, confiscation of money, and imposing censorship on financial movements, and with the presence of Bitcoin, these autocrats will not be able to do anything.

If only there are tons of crypto facilities that can be used in everyday life like in groceries and paying bills without converting into fiat pr at least many atm machine to cashout without going or transferring in bank since in my country it’s still too hard to cashout due to many questions and suspicion of bank due to transactions from trading. Hopefully soon they will know how trading in crypto workd.

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.

Reality is that it is not bitcoins fault that people are beaten for their coins, sure there are people who try to steal others bitcoins but that is not caused by bitcoin, there are people who are murdered for dollars every day as well and it is not even nearly same numbers,

What people want? A freedom, security and a healthy, peaceful and enjoying life style this is the right we also want. And bitcoin gives us those all things.

The role of Television in spreading fake news in 2020 and 2021 is really alarming. We should all be very careful when seeing news on TV these days, it is better to double check everything we hear and don't believe things straight away. Unfortunately our society changed a lot in the last 10 years, a lot of people just take their news from Facebook and believe a lot of nonsense. In my opinion it is a good thing that Bitcoins are protecting Human Rights around the world.

Bitcoin represents human will and it penetrates the financial barriers that governments create.  Over the years, countries have accused Bitcoin of being involved in money laundering, arms trafficking and a host of other crimes, but upon investigation and discovery it was the US dollar and the classical finance (the banking system)  it is the tool of the crime.
Bitcoin is more trusted than ever before and most clearly demonstrated that its value increases over time in spite of national rumors and bans.
I think Bitcoin is the product of the spirit of freedom, the will to cross borders and connect people.

I certainly agree about the importance of bitcoin for the population of our planet as a product of the spirit of freedom and the spirit of unification, but still I would not deny the reality of some negative aspects of the use of cryptocurrencies by different people with bad intentions ;) Although of course it is clear that all sorts of crimes involving the use of fiat currencies are incomparably greater due to the scale. On the other hand, such negativity should not be automatically linked to both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.

Protecting?
Please name in which of all those situations have the freedom and the human rights been protected?


Read anything about Belarus lately? Oh wait:
We've lost on the streets: Belarus opposition leader (https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210220-we-ve-lost-on-the-streets-belarus-opposition-leader)


Yeah, he can do a lot of things, Navalny would agree with you from its prison cell.

So, what human rights has bitcoin protected?
Are you that childish to think that a regime that has no hesitation torturing, poisoning, beating to death, and jailing people will crumble because somebody is sending a few dollars anonymously?


Well, Bitcoin is fighting poverty in Venezuela for almost a decade but it seems like it's not succeeding at all.

I wish people would stop having such great expectations from a coin that was not designed for any of those, it's not a magic golden goose, it's not a magical safe that won't open no matter what, it's not something that can protect its user from abuse.
It's a perfect tool to make transactions and keep your money safe in a normal environment, in a stable country with no mad dictator, not in a war-torn country where the police or army is free to beat you to death if you don't tell them everything you know.

Money has no right or wrong, they are just a tools for people to use.

I think bitcoin is not related to human rights. Like the statement above, bitcoin is like money, a tool for a human to buy, hold, or use as a safe haven. Maybe bitcoin gives anonymity to people who do not want other people to know how much money they had, and even the government does not know about that. But that does not mean that bitcoin protects human rights because whether you like it or not, we still live in a country with a government that will control all of its people. When people use bitcoin, they will have something that the government and the government do not control will not know about their money.

Never knew bitcoin can be Ghandi lol. Kiddings aside, sometimes us supporters have to pipe down our love and enthusiasm for the coin as we come out as lunatics and cringey redditors at times.

I think bitcoin is not related to human rights. Like the statement above, bitcoin is like money, a tool for a human to buy, hold, or use as a safe haven. Maybe bitcoin gives anonymity to people who do not want other people to know how much money they had, and even the government does not know about that. But that does not mean that bitcoin protects human rights because whether you like it or not, we still live in a country with a government that will control all of its people. When people use bitcoin, they will have something that the government and the government do not control will not know about their money.

Meh, this is kinda going overboard.

Anyone in the position to use Bitcoin probably already enjoys human rights that some people don't have...particularly muslims in concentration camps over in China. It's not like BTC is going to save the world. It provides economic freedom and decentralization, "human rights" has nothing to do with it. And no, I don't consider economic freedoms to be a "human right", more like a basic liberty.

2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

I think bitcoin is not related to human rights. Like the statement above, bitcoin is like money, a tool for a human to buy, hold, or use as a safe haven. Maybe bitcoin gives anonymity to people who do not want other people to know how much money they had, and even the government does not know about that. But that does not mean that bitcoin protects human rights because whether you like it or not, we still live in a country with a government that will control all of its people. When people use bitcoin, they will have something that the government and the government do not control will not know about their money.

It's not like BTC is going to save the world.

It provides economic freedom and decentralization, "human rights" has nothing to do with it.

This particular right is heavily violated in countries with authoritarian regimes. It's almost impossible to find a well-paid job without connections to those in power or without being a zealous supporter of the regime. We all know that Bitcoin can help with protecting this particular right.

I think bitcoin is not related to human rights. Like the statement above, bitcoin is like money, a tool for a human to buy, hold, or use as a safe haven. Maybe bitcoin gives anonymity to people who do not want other people to know how much money they had, and even the government does not know about that. But that does not mean that bitcoin protects human rights because whether you like it or not, we still live in a country with a government that will control all of its people. When people use bitcoin, they will have something that the government and the government do not control will not know about their money.

Learn about traditional currencies, for example about the dollar and euro, all others are alike! Then learn about crypto and find all the differences...

Why Bitcoin is protecting human rights around the world... simply because it doesn't care about your nationality, religion, the color of your eyes or skin! Without any prejudice, Bitcoin is here to deliver us a decentralized economy, based on mathematic and algorithms...

Who needs to protect human rights? You can say governments and laws, and they are doing some job, but not even close to what they need to do ... on the other side I think we all need to protect all of us! It's the next step of evolution... of course, we need a tool for that! And guess what will be our tool?!

It's such a huge claim. Sometimes I cringe on certain claims made by Bitcoin fans. I don't necessarily disagree with them, but sometimes they just seem to portray Bitcoin as something heaven-sent, capable of addressing the most fundamental issues of humanity.

Many a time have I heard of claims such as Bitcoin could highly boost a country's economy, Bitcoin could address poverty, Bitcoin could address unequal distribution of wealth, and so forth. There may be a certain amount of truth in each or even all of them but to generalize or label Bitcoin as such could actually be misleading or simply an exaggeration.

At the end of the day, Bitcoin is simply a tool, a generally neutral tool which could protect a certain human right such as the right to privacy, for example, as much as it could also be a tool used by a criminal to get away from being lawfully prosecuted and brought to justice.

Bitcoin maximalists are the definition of cringe. Did you know bitcoin was invented to save mankind from political oppression, censorship, poverty, and dozens of other threats?  At least, that's what they'd have you believe even though literally none of that is true.  The retcon of bitcoin's origin story is too much.

Bitcoin maximalists are the definition of cringe. Did you know bitcoin was invented to save mankind from political oppression, censorship, poverty, and dozens of other threats?  At least, that's what they'd have you believe even though literally none of that is true.  The retcon of bitcoin's origin story is too much.

Bitcoin maximalists are the definition of cringe. Did you know bitcoin was invented to save mankind from political oppression, censorship, poverty, and dozens of other threats?  At least, that's what they'd have you believe even though literally none of that is true.  The retcon of bitcoin's origin story is too much.

You are not making any progress with a statement like that, you are not helping anyone neither and at least bitcoin maximalists are providing their opinion. If you are trying to say that it's not helping human rights around the world, you might as well just state why you think that it's wrong and why you think that it's not protecting human rights, that way it will be a discussion and people can respond to your response and so forth and it will go on like that.

However when you just go "lol, these idiots" and nothing more, you are not providing anything to discussion. I am full on support of bitcoin and a total maximalist and I believe human rights are not something you have to take as a whole, we are talking about certain parts of human rights, and bitcoin did improved on some failures of fiat currency and made it decentralized so I would say it did protect certain parts of human rights if you ask me.

Bitcoin maximalists are the definition of cringe. Did you know bitcoin was invented to save mankind from political oppression, censorship, poverty, and dozens of other threats? 

Be careful what you say about them because they are going to attack you definitely and they do not want their belief challenged even in the most healthy way of discussing the short comings of their one true beloved cryptocurrency that is Bitcoin, someday we will come to a time when bitcoin becomes like Jesus Christ because of these bitcoin absurdist/maximalist.

You are not making any progress with a statement like that, you are not helping anyone neither and at least bitcoin maximalists are providing their opinion. If you are trying to say that it's not helping human rights around the world, you might as well just state why you think that it's wrong and why you think that it's not protecting human rights, that way it will be a discussion and people can respond to your response and so forth and it will go on like that.

~
I'm interested on how Bitcoin will do this part...

Maybe in some way BTC did it or not. But truly the biggest companies should have a focus on those people who are in financially critical condition. There are many needy communities and they don't get any help. Like BTC many other sectors should have come in front to make the earth beautiful.

I'm going to do this in his place. What rights has BTC (alone) protected?
The human rights in Belarus? Read the news! The human rights in HK? Not so much from what I've seen.
If you think it has done so, how it has managed to achieve it? By people getting helped to buy food? Nice and money transfers from the ones willing to help to those that need were indeed made easier via btc,  but that's not protecting human rights, it's helping people survive.

As I said it before, stop treating it as a self-conscious entity and more like the tool that it is.

I believe that the use of Bitcoin will pursue completely different goals and it is unlikely that Bitcoin will help the poor become richer. But with regard to independence from the banking system and state control of each user, including secure financial transfers, Bitcoin and other decentralized cryptocurrencies were created for this.

The existence of bitcoin aids humanity in many ways but it most likely give everyone the freedom from being under the control of the government. As we can remember, bitcoin is a decentralized currency, not only it is not under the government but it is also an effective and plausible way to escape poverty if ever you become successful with your investments on it. It freed us from the taxes that are mostly being pocketed by corrupt politicians and their opression on how we should earn and make money. Nevertheless, it will still depend on you on how will bitcoin function in your life.

I am from Nigeria and I can testify that bitcoin has made donation for Nigeria protest for better governance more viable. During the endsars protest last year, the government blocked donation via bank transfer and other financial institutions such as flutterwave and paystack but they could not stop donation using crypto

That is pretty cool. With bitcoins we have the chance to help a lot of different people all around the world. Especially if we can help protests and people who are being targeted by the government, we have a way to give money without the chance of the officials to intercept that money. Financial institutions such as western union or paypal are controlled by the government. We need to use crypto currencies to go around such limitations.

Maybe what OP is trying to point out is that sometimes some people in the bitcoin community are exaggerating bitcoin's capability as a cryptocurrency to the point that they look like they are trying to say that bitcoin is the solution to every problem when it isn't really the truth. Isn't @jaysabi also stating his/her opinion about these people?

Yes, this is exactly what I was saying. Bitcoin was not invented to protect human rights or achieve any other noble goal people assign to it. It was just an experiment in immutable digital currency that has arguably become far larger than anyone in the early days ever though it would, or those early pioneers would have held their stacks of bitcoin. The maximalists trying to paint it as the savior of humanity are ridiculous.