The Human Rights Basis (HRF) launched the Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance on April 10, forming a coalition of activists, humanitarian organizations, and pro-democracy actions leveraging Bitcoin (BTC) to help civil liberties and ship support in financially repressive environments.
The initiative brings collectively frontline teams working in jurisdictions the place monetary methods are routinely weaponized to dam dissent, surveil critics, freeze donations, and hinder humanitarian operations.
The Alliance goals to supply a shared platform for these organizations to trade data on utilizing Bitcoin as a censorship-resistant monetary instrument.
It additionally seeks to deepen collaboration between the humanitarian sector and Bitcoin builders to construct instruments that deal with privateness, entry, and survivability below authoritarian regimes.
Software for support and resistance
The HRF stated that many authoritarian governments exploit conventional banking infrastructure to limit monetary entry for opposition actions and support networks.
Areas reminiscent of Nigeria, Venezuela, Russia, and China have seen activists excluded from the monetary system by blocked accounts, suspended transfers, and focused surveillance. The HRF stated that Bitcoin is another mechanism for transferring worth, preserving privateness, and securing operational continuity in these environments.
The Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance seeks to formalize and broaden using Bitcoin on this context by constructing a worldwide community of practitioners. The Alliance’s 13 founding members are activists from around the globe, from Latin America to Asia.
Moreover, Alliance members are already utilizing Bitcoin to lift uncensorable donations, pay native workers securely, and transfer cross-border support with out reliance on centralized intermediaries. Others flip to Bitcoin to retailer worth in hyperinflationary economies or jurisdictions with strict capital controls.
Within the coming years, the Alliance plans to arrange workshops, host conferences, and develop instructional supplies for nonprofit organizations desirous about incorporating Bitcoin into their operations.
It additionally intends to doc Bitcoin’s position in offering monetary resilience for dissidents and support recipients, making its findings obtainable to the media and coverage organizations.
HRF’s ongoing BTC engagement
The HRF emphasised the necessity for a transparent distinction between Bitcoin and broader “crypto” ecosystems, noting that BTC’s decentralized structure and stuck financial coverage supply structural benefits for activists searching for monetary neutrality.
The Basis cautioned that different digital belongings, which can depend on centralized entities or have fluctuating governance fashions, can reintroduce the dangers dissidents goal to keep away from.
The Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance extends HRF’s involvement in Bitcoin, which scaled in 2020 with the creation of the Bitcoin Growth Fund.
Since its inception, the fund has issued over $5.5 million throughout 174 grants to help open-source Bitcoin initiatives, together with privateness instruments, custody options, and academic assets.
HRF has used the fund to help initiatives reminiscent of pockets growth, Lightning infrastructure, and coaching applications for civil society teams working below hostile regimes.
