Bitcoin mends broken democracies and fights government corruption by limiting its power to control its people, argues Bitcoin advocate and Human Rights Foundation director of strategy Alex Gladstein.
On a February 20 interview, Gladstein argued that the decentralized nature of Bitcoin (BTC) can act as a barrier against corruption and tyranny.
“Where democracies have collapsed, I think it’s very clearly related to fiat currency, and I think Bitcoin fixes this in some way,” he said.
“#Bitcoin fix democracy…#Bitcoin is… free speech, property rights and open capital markets… tyrants need… the opposite: they need censorship… confiscation and closed capital markets”@gladstein https://t.co/n7mVr3bDwA
— What Bitcoin Did (@WhatBitcoinDid) February 20, 2023
Gladstein is HRF’s chief strategy officer and has served the non-profit organization since 2007. The foundation focuses on promoting and protecting human rights globally, particularly in countries where their people live “under an authoritarian regime.”
Gladstein also lectures on Bitcoin and the future of money at Singularity University events, according to his biography.
Gladstein said during the interview that Bitcoin stands for free speech, property rights, and open capital markets, all of which stifle a tyrannical government, often necessitating censorship, confiscation, and closed capital markets. He stated:
“This is what China and Russia need to survive: they need censorship, they need closed capital markets, and they need confiscation; Bitcoin makes it very difficult for governments to force those things on their people.”
Both Russia and China have been hostile towards cryptocurrencies in the past. The Chinese government banned virtually all crypto transactions in 2021. However, the upcoming crypto licensing regime in Hong Kong has led to speculation that China’s stance on cryptocurrencies is softening.
Russia’s main cryptocurrency law, “On Digital Financial Assets,” officially banned the use of cryptocurrencies for payment purposes in 2020. The law did not prohibit Russians from investing in cryptocurrencies, but local cryptocurrency exchanges have not been regulated.
“I don’t see these dictatorial powers doing well on a Bitcoin standard; I think it becomes very difficult for them,” Gladstein added.
Gladstein’s argument on cryptocurrencies has echoed similar views of others in the past. Bitcoin infrastructure provider OpenNode expressed something similar opinions in a 2021 post about the benefit BTC donations had in evading authorized crackdowns.
“One of the benefits of Bitcoin is its resistance to censorship,” OpenNode wrote at the time.
“With no central authority dictating who can and cannot use Bitcoin, it has proven to be the currency of choice for many people and organizations who have been left out of traditional payment methods.”
According According to February 2022 research by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, one of the main reasons for adopting blockchain-based fundraising was to prevent financial institutions from shutting down traditional accounts.
Related: Blockchain is the only viable path to privacy and censorship resistance in the 21st century
Gladstein predicts that there will be many more “trigger moments” in the coming years where people will have “liquidity and technical problems with traditional financial services,” resulting in more people switching to BTC as an alternative.
“If there is a conflict or a failure in trading or communications, you will see a lot of problems, and each one of them is like a moment that is going to spawn a new Bitcoiner out of necessity,” he said. saying.
