Several projects supporting censorship resistance and Bitcoin education have received funding from the HRF.
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has awarded 2 billion satoshis, approximately $475,000, from the Bitcoin Development Fund to 10 global projects. The funding will support areas such as censorship-resistant communication, Bitcoin education in authoritarian regimes, core development, and building local communities and education, with a focus on Africa and Southeast Asia. Grants include $100,000 for Begina fellowship program that trains the next generation of African Bitcoin and Lightning developers, allowing the program to continue its 13-week fellowship and sponsor six Qala fellows to attend the Oslo Freedom Forum.
The HRF also awarded $75,000 to the Africa Bitcoin Conferencethe largest Bitcoin-focused conference in Africa, and $50,000 to Guillermo Casarin for his work in Our, a censorship-resistant, open source, decentralized social networking platform. In addition, $50,000 was allocated bitcoin for equity, which focuses on raising Bitcoin awareness for underprivileged communities and in authoritarian states. Another $50,000 went to vasil dimovone of the top 20 contributors to Bitcoin Core, to ensure the continued development and stability of the Bitcoin protocol.
The remaining grants of $25,000 were awarded to Emmanuel Bronshtein for his contributions to wallet scrutiny, exomuni to expand Bitcoin educational resources, Ekenimoh Elyan for EasePay and Bitcoin Myanmar for financial freedom education. HRF has allocated more than $2.2 million in BTC and USD to more than 70 developers, educators and open source initiatives around the world since the beginning of 2020. The organization continues to raise support for the Bitcoin Development Fund, and the next round of donations will be announced in May. 2023.
“Bitcoin is a powerful tool for human rights advocates around the world,” and these grants support their belief that “financial freedom is a human right,” said Alex Gladstein, HRF’s chief strategy officer. “We are proud to support the incredible work of these individuals and organizations who are using Bitcoin to fight for human rights and freedom, especially in regions where it is most needed.”
HRF is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. Proposals for support can be sent to [email protected], and more information can be found on the HRF website.
