Hong Kong Police Freeze $10M Fund for Protesters - Bitcoin Becomes Attractive

[cheezcarls]

The Hong Kong Police, working with China, has frozen a major fund that was intended for arrested and injured protestors. The case for financial freedom with Bitcoin has never been more clear.

Bitcoin’s popularity always seems to spike when people’s wallets are directly affected. Throughout 2019, we’ve seen multiple fears of bank runs and ATMs running out of cash during crises. In October, BeInCrypto reported that Chilean ATMs were reportedly locked during a state of emergency. That same month, Bitcoin trading volume ballooned as Hong Kong residents found themselves locked out of ATMs.

Source link here

Now that their funds were locked out, I think it's time for them to take Bitcoin seriously.

Storing them in banks is such a bad idea, especially if they are using it for protests. If they could have stored it in Bitcoin, the police and government cannot stop them as they do not own or control the blockchain technology.

Bitcoin took out the third party or intermediary in peer-to-peer transactions, and this is what Hongkong protesters should need if they want to keep their funds safe from being frozen.

This is Bitcoin's time now. We're not just focusing on the price itself, but how can it be used without the risk of having our funds frozen.

[Lizzylove1]

Storing fund in bitcoin is fantastic because of some level of raskality from the government who use economic and social tools to repressing the already distressed citizens. In such a time Cryptocurrency era. The government do carry out too much stressful decision

[squatter]

Now that their funds were locked out, I think it's time for them to take Bitcoin seriously.

Storing them in banks is such a bad idea, especially if they are using it for protests. If they could have stored it in Bitcoin, the police and government cannot stop them as they do not own or control the blockchain technology.

Bitcoin took out the third party or intermediary in peer-to-peer transactions, and this is what Hongkong protesters should need if they want to keep their funds safe from being frozen.

This is Bitcoin's time now. We're not just focusing on the price itself, but how can it be used without the risk of having our funds frozen.

The use case is there, but we've got to be realistic about the limitations. Bitcoin still lacks the network liquidity required to facilitate required day-to-day capital movements, and reliance on the internet can be problematic in protest areas.

Global Protests Reveal Bitcoin’s Limitations

In the face of censorship and isolation from their countries’ financial and communication systems, protesters across the globe are testing out bitcoin and other decentralized technologies – then promptly discovering their limitations.

Take Hong Hong, for example, where protests began six months ago against China’s infringements on civil liberties and ramped up on Monday at Hong Kong Polytechnic University as police detained 1,000 protesters.

The former British colony would seem the perfect test case for an open-access financial system resistant to government interference. But that may not yet bet the case.

Take for example, HSBC Holdings reportedly shutting down the bank account of Spark Alliance HK, a local nonprofit focused on civic engagement, because it was associated with protests and the bank was allegedly pressured by Beijing. The move reminded protesters and donors of the need to transact privately, one protestor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CoinDesk. Nonprofits like HKMap Live and Hong Kong Free Press already accept bitcoin donations.

However, the Hong Kong protester added, “there is no [internet] connection in the protest area, no matter which service provider you used,” and protesters are generally not clear on how bitcoin would be used by individuals during a time of civil unrest. It is mostly useful for receiving donations from abroad that don’t require prompt liquidity.

Plus, he said protesters who tried mesh-network devices, which basically bounce a message or transaction across a web of devices until it finds a device with internet access, found they were “not useful for a confrontational situation.” Although many protesters use Telegram because it allows chatting without revealing the users’ phone numbers, he said tools that rely on mobile data providers offer limited functionality in times of turmoil.

As with protests in the Middle East, sources in Hong Kong said bitcoin and related technologies are not ready for usage in chaotic environments because the movement is still nascent and money generally relies on network effects. At this point, censorship-resistant technology can still be censored as long as it remains too niche.

“People are moving their money abroad more,” said one Chinese bitcoiner with family in Hong Kong, who asked that her name be withheld for safety. “But it’s from bank to bank, like Hong Kong accounts to Singapore.”

[makishart]

I wonder how people could face the internet shutdown if they really want to use bitcoin for temporary safehaven because the government will surely taking an action to prevent such thing from happening and to note that the exchanges there might be controlled by the government so the hongkong citizens will be having a hard time cashing out once they need the money except selling it overseas.

[dothebeats]

Even though they can buy/sell crypto already in HK, I still think that it's unsafe for them to do so knowing that they can be setup for buy-bust and get their funds locked up. Also, the risk for the tellers dealing with bitcoin to the protesters would also be high and I don't think anyone would ever dare do that in the midst of the crisis. Lastly, bitcoin is not that easy to liquidate and it will take a long ass time before the protesters get their needed funds. It's just too risky even though the use-case is very evident.

[Artemis3]

I wonder how people could face the internet shutdown if they really want to use bitcoin for temporary safehaven because the government will surely taking an action to prevent such thing from happening and to note that the exchanges there might be controlled by the government so the hongkong citizens will be having a hard time cashing out once they need the money except selling it overseas.

China already has the great firewall, all they have to is force Hong Kong into it as well. This will complicate things, but never stop it. The only way to stop it is do it North Korea style, which is basically a nation sized LAN with authorized content manually copied in.

Maybe these new (low orbit) satellite based internet services would also enable circumventing the State censorship, IF you manage to smuggle in AND camouflage the antenna and receiver. China officially forbids stuff above their airspace, who knows what they would do if these become common.

Money can't do much but keep the protests going endlessly. Neither they can liberate HK from the Chinese State, nor the Chinese State can completely end the protests. But time is on their side, the Chinese State side. From experience i know, protests fade when unsuccessful overtime. This struggle was lost the day they went back into China, rather than go independent or maybe join Taiwan, including the American military presence. It is too late now, and they only realize it two decades late.

This situation can only prolong without any resolution, other than more and more oppression by the State.

It was too naive of them openly piling sums of money in the banks. Did they think they had a right to protest? Not in communist China.

[minersday]

Saving huge monies at the bank has never been an option of mine. The hustle of process that you have to go through in order to have access to your own money is damn tiring. Anyway, this issue with the protesters have been going on for a while and i think it's high time the government listened to the people and do their bidding as democracy is a government for the people. In addition, the freezing of that fund will defintely give people a hint of the financial freedom they can have if they decide to use bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Well now, this is one headline about bitcoin that I completely agree with. 

If those funds were simply kept in a bitcoin wallet and assuming that it wouldn't be too hard to convert the btc to fiat when needed, it would have been the perfect solution to the gov't seizing the funds.  I can't believe that with the whole world watching that situation, they would pull a move like this but obviously they did.  I'm talking about the gov't, by the way.  That couldn't get much more repressive.

China already has the great firewall, all they have to is force Hong Kong into it as well. This will complicate things, but never stop it.

Good points above and the ones I didn't quote, too. 

[MURONDI]

can you provide a link related to the news you mean, The link you provided does not contain news about the confiscation of Hong Kong Police, but rather news about plustoken, if the news about the foreclosure is true I hope the news can have an impact on the development of bitcoin.

[meanwords]

I don't see any flaws in using Bitcoin for their agenda. I mean if they use Bitcoin in order to funds their activities, their government won't be able to do anything about it since they won't know if the protestors use mixers to mix their funds or they use services here in the forum. So how are they going to withdraw them? They could use paypal or services here in the forum in order to do it. It's not like banks is the only way to fund them.



PS: The link goes to https://beincrypto.com/plustoken-ether-worth-100m-moves-striking-dump-fears/?utm_campaign=amba&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bitcointalk&utm_content=jc

[CryptoBry]

People in Hong Kong should fully realize that the many things happening in their beloved state country are the things that should be the big reasons why they should be adopting Bitcoin. This is the power of the state and its desire to control how the people should be acting, thinking and behaving. All things are directed by those in China, of course. Ironically, China is a big player in the whole Bitcoin ecosystem and was in fact the very reason for the recent big pump of Bitcoin.

[Broly46]

This is the high time when the cop decide to bend the rules and fight for their dictatorship leader, literally sabotage the people who pay the taxes to feed them, and this shameless cop decide to bite their own loyal citizen! People must realise, the cop they long know has been dead, what is left are just bunch of goon who covering themselves in the name of the duty to serve the nation, my foot, just bunch of terrorism!

[blckhawk]

If in any case they use Bitcoin to transact, then they would need to find suppliers that are directly accepting Bitcoin as payment. Because if not, it's still useless, because they wouldn't be able to cash it out on exchanges (assuming that exchanges there are also locked/restricted).

All transactions need to flow only on cryptocurrencies, and away from fiat. That's the only way they could succeed.

[Murat]

If this news is really authentic then they must sell their cryptocurrency and Bitcoin as early as possible otherwise those can be out of control, it's the best time to raise the voice against all of the negative thinking about the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, But Actually I didn't find any related news from providing this source link, whatever the case is, they should find an alternative way to utilize properly of their Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency, most important thing is that, People from Hong Kong, should stand up for their basic rights and this is the high time. 

[squatter]

I don't see any flaws in using Bitcoin for their agenda. I mean if they use Bitcoin in order to funds their activities, their government won't be able to do anything about it

The government won't be able to freeze their bitcoins like a bank account, but the question is: How easily can they use those bitcoins? One Hong Kong protestor remarked that Bitcoin is "mostly useful for receiving donations from abroad that don’t require prompt liquidity." It's a good way for foreigners to support protestors with donations, but they can't necessarily use the money immediately or easily, not to mention the volatility aspect. On the ground, they need more widely accepted mediums that don't depend on the internet, like cash.

[buwaytress]

Bitcoin becomes attractive... hasn't Bitcoin already become attractive in HK long before this? Long before the extradition bill was withdrawn? I mean, people were already using BTC to avoid surveillance (police were surveilling people buying even public transport tickets to try and identify protestors).

News like this is getting so little attention when it's so important. But good. Let people learn to use Bitcoin, and then see what the state can do about it (nothing).

[alyssa85]

It's good news, but soon the protester need to :
1. Buy/sell Bitcoin from exchange outside HK/China
2. Finding places which accept Bitcoin, if exchange Bitcoin and fiat become more difficult.

People in Hong Kong are still free to travel outside Hong Kong (unlike people in China). So they can easily make a trip to say Korea and exchange their bitcoins there. The issue is getting a dollar bank account outside of Hong Kong where you can then deposit the money.

[BeManga]

The Hong Kong Police, working with China, has frozen a major fund that was intended for arrested and injured protestors. The case for financial freedom with Bitcoin has never been more clear.

Bitcoin’s popularity always seems to spike when people’s wallets are directly affected. Throughout 2019, we’ve seen multiple fears of bank runs and ATMs running out of cash during crises. In October, BeInCrypto reported that Chilean ATMs were reportedly locked during a state of emergency. That same month, Bitcoin trading volume ballooned as Hong Kong residents found themselves locked out of ATMs.

Source link here

Now that their funds were locked out, I think it's time for them to take Bitcoin seriously.

Storing them in banks is such a bad idea, especially if they are using it for protests. If they could have stored it in Bitcoin, the police and government cannot stop them as they do not own or control the blockchain technology.

Bitcoin took out the third party or intermediary in peer-to-peer transactions, and this is what Hongkong protesters should need if they want to keep their funds safe from being frozen.

This is Bitcoin's time now. We're not just focusing on the price itself, but how can it be used without the risk of having our funds frozen.

this is also one of the reasons why i like bitcoin because if you put money in the bank it feels like its not your own money
bank can freeze and lock your account anytime there is also limit of how much you can spend or withdraw with your own money
while using bitcoin you can spend, trade, encash or even invest without limit

[tsaroz]

This would associate bitcoin with freedom. Which it really is.
The world of crypto coin and blockchain based social networks would lead to new waves of revolutions around the world.
They would create a new society based on democracy, transparency and personal freedom.

[Oneandpure]

What is it plustoken platform, why have connection with ethereum and crypto. Do you know what connected between plustoken and bitcoin or altcoin and how come can make ethereum and bitcoin will be lower price, I am still not hear with plustoken because until your publish site I am not finding some investor use plustoken as their investment destination.