Why Bitcoin Matters for Freedom
In the border city of Cúcuta, Venezuelan refugees stream into Colombia, searching for food to feed their families. Years of high inflation, projected to top 1 million percent, has turned bolivares into scrap paper. More than 3 million Venezuelans have fled since 2014, and 5,500 exit for good each day. According to the United Nations, the exodus is “on the scale of Syria” and is now one of the world’s worst refugee crises. As Venezuelans escape, they leave with close to nothing, desperate and vulnerable.
Because they live under authoritarianism, Venezuelans have no way to reform the policies that have destroyed their economy. They can’t hold their rulers accountable through free and fair elections or campaign for change without fear of reprisal. As they stand in hours-long lines for rationed groceries and medicine and watch their life savings disappear, it can seem like there are no options.
But innovation happens at the edge. Today, Venezuelans are adopting and experimenting with Bitcoin to evade hyperinflation and strict financial controls. Speculation, fraud, and greed in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry have overshadowed the real, liberating potential of Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention. For people living under authoritarian governments, Bitcoin can be a valuable financial tool as a censorship-resistant medium of exchange.
Take, for example, remittances. After ravaging the domestic economy, the Venezuelan regime is now taking a cut of money coming in from abroad. New laws force Venezuelans to go through local banks for foreign transactions, and require banks to disclose information on how individuals get and use their money. According to Alejandro Machado, a cryptocurrency researcher at the Open Money Initiative, a wire transfer from the United States can now encounter a fee as high as 56% as it passes from dollars to bolivares in a process that can last several weeks. Most recently, Venezuelan banks have, under pressure from the government, even prevented clients using foreign IP addresses from accessing their online accounts.
To circumvent this bureaucracy, some Venezuelans have started to receive bitcoin from their relatives abroad. It’s now possible to send a text message to your family asking for bitcoin, and receive it minutes later for a tiny fee. Government censorship isn’t possible, as bitcoin isn’t routed through a bank or third party and instead arrives into your phone wallet in a peer-to-peer way. Then you can, moments later, sell your new bitcoin into fiat through a local Craigslist-style exchange, or load it onto a flash drive (or even memorize a recovery phrase) and escape Venezuela with complete control over your savings. A popular alternative – have your family wire money to a bank in Colombia, walk across the border to withdraw, then walk back to Venezuela with cash in hand – can take far longer, cost more, and be far more dangerous than the Bitcoin option.
Venezuela isn’t the only place where people can use Bitcoin as an escape valve. In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe printed endless amounts of cash and inflated the savings of his citizens into nothing, but his successors can’t print more bitcoin. In China, Xi Jinping can track all of your transactions on Alipay and WePay, but he cannot orchestrate mass surveillance on all Bitcoin payments. In Russia, Vladimir Putin can target an NGO and freeze its bank account, but he can’t freeze its Bitcoin wallet. In a refugee camp, you might not be able to access a bank, but as long as you can find an Internet connection, you can receive bitcoin, without asking permission and without having to prove your identity.
Naturally, we must pay attention to the dark side of emerging technology. Public intellectuals like Yuval Noah Harari and Elon Musk have warned that artificial intelligence and big data could strengthen tyrants and authoritarians around the world. Regimes in Venezuela, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are even trying to mutate and centralize Bitcoin’s concept of peer-to-peer digital money to create state-controlled cryptocurrencies like the Petro, which could allow them to more effectively censor transactions, surveil user accounts, and evade sanctions.
But decentralizing technologies can provide a countering force. Beyond Bitcoin, there are encrypted communications apps and browsers like Signal and Tor, privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies like Zcash and Monero, mesh networking devices like goTenna, and censorship-resistant storage systems like IPFS. By building on and investing in tools like these, we can ensure that our cities, social networks, and financial systems don’t turn into tools of surveillance and control.
Cash remains one of the best ways to exercise free speech. Paper or metal money is virtually anonymous, and can be used without government surveillance. But in places like Venezuela, where bills are weighed in stacks by the kilogram even for small transactions, cash is increasingly impractical, and it’s vulnerable to theft or seizure. And from China to Sweden, governments and companies are driving us toward a cashless world. It’s essential that we explore electronic money that can preserve the peer-to-peer quality of cash for future generations. When you pay someone with software like Venmo, you might use three or four financial intermediaries, even though the recipient might be standing in front of you. Each intermediary can potentially censor, surveil, and profit. And the billions of humans living under repressive regimes can’t expect most payment software in the future to remain as innocent or benevolent as Venmo. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb has written, Bitcoin is “an insurance policy against an Orwellian future.”
To be sure, Bitcoin is still a nascent technology, and doesn’t offer cutting-edge usability, speed, or privacy. But engineers are constantly working to bring those attributes to Bitcoin by building better apps and on-ramps, upgrading the base protocol, and creating new second layer technologies like the Lightning Network, which could eventually mask and dramatically scale the number of possible bitcoin transactions per second. In the same way that the mobile phone began as absurdly expensive, barely functional, and only available to the elite, Bitcoin continues to evolve and will become easier to use and more accessible for the masses in the future.
Less than 1% of the world’s population — no more than 40 million people — have ever used Bitcoin. But, according to the Human Rights Foundation, more than 50% of the world’s population lives under an authoritarian regime. If we invest the time and resources to develop user-friendly wallets, more exchanges, and better educational materials for Bitcoin, it has the potential to make a real difference for the 4 billion people who can’t trust their rulers or who can’t access the banking system. For them, Bitcoin can be a way out.
eth_vs_btc_issuanceBitcoin, which was released in 2009 by an individual or group of individuals known as Satoshi Nakamoto, is a cryptocurrency that allows people to send and receive money around the world. As mentioned, the payments are secured using cryptography. The most essential point about Bitcoin is that it helps keep the identity of the people sending and receiving money anonymously.вклады bitcoin биржа bitcoin bitcoin майнить логотип bitcoin top bitcoin 0 bitcoin bitcoin коллектор bitcoin russia erc20 ethereum bitcoin 33 bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin hesaplama zcash bitcoin ethereum vk биржа bitcoin bitcoin trezor
bitcoin investment
разработчик ethereum up bitcoin client ethereum bitcoin cudaminer bitcoin scripting прогнозы bitcoin red bitcoin casino bitcoin daemon bitcoin ethereum dag conference bitcoin bitcoin markets bitcoin проверить настройка monero реклама bitcoin
раздача bitcoin monero кран exchange monero капитализация bitcoin аналоги bitcoin bitcoin multiplier tether верификация 60 bitcoin collector bitcoin 4000 bitcoin rbc bitcoin bitcoin вирус tether пополнение simple bitcoin security bitcoin bitcoin block перспективы bitcoin bitcoin froggy bitcoin bounty 15 bitcoin курс monero bitcoin grant registration bitcoin ethereum project картинка bitcoin pro bitcoin battle bitcoin bitcoin scrypt шрифт bitcoin cryptocurrency ico json bitcoin видео bitcoin bitcoin poloniex bitcoin youtube bitcoin cz bitcoin создатель blacktrail bitcoin bitcoin fake Some other blockchain applications include:There have been many cases of bitcoin theft. As of December 2017, around 980,000 bitcoins have been stolen from cryptocurrency exchanges.продам ethereum bitcoin гарант bitcoin пример bitcoin biz ethereum проблемы bitcoin png отзыв bitcoin карты bitcoin loco bitcoin bitcoin genesis
bitcoin bit abi ethereum заработка bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin капитализация bitcoin bitcoin автомат Cryptocurrencies compensate miners based on a proof-of-work hashing algorithm. Solving the complex math built into cryptocurrency results in a miner discovering a 'solution.' Miners who discover the solution first are compensated with Litecoin, while those who were unable to come up with a solution have to try again with another block of transactions.ethereum прогнозы
bitcoin 10 torrent bitcoin gadget bitcoin bitcoin openssl
bitcoin пицца
faucet bitcoin bitcoin cryptocurrency
ethereum russia ninjatrader bitcoin платформу ethereum hardware bitcoin bitcoin weekend bitcoin блок blitz bitcoin ethereum algorithm bitcoin проверка bitcoin перспективы
ethereum raiden coinmarketcap bitcoin explorer ethereum keepkey bitcoin ethereum io fox bitcoin bitcoin frog ethereum видеокарты
bitcoin bank pay bitcoin bitcoin unlimited monero wallet explorer ethereum While litecoin requires more sophisticated technology to mine than bitcoin, blocks are actually generated up to four times faster. Litecoin also processes financial transactions a lot quicker, and can also process a higher number of them over the same time period.secp256k1 ethereum bitcoin деньги china bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты майнить ethereum блокчейн ethereum wikipedia ethereum roboforex bitcoin bitcoin оборот fee bitcoin
bitcoin терминал bitcoin 1070 monero настройка значок bitcoin bonus bitcoin bitcoin blockstream ethereum капитализация bitcoin knots bitcoin биткоин ethereum создатель card bitcoin лото bitcoin bitcoin red best bitcoin bitcoin бумажник bitcoin pools ethereum supernova keyhunter bitcoin bitcoin transactions future bitcoin cardano cryptocurrency bcc bitcoin bitcoin hash новости bitcoin bitcoin like casinos bitcoin escrow bitcoin magic bitcoin keepkey bitcoin bitcoin серфинг avto bitcoin bitcoin сервисы проблемы bitcoin bounty bitcoin bitcoin habr
asics bitcoin bitcoin click кран ethereum exchange ethereum bye bitcoin ethereum mine bitcoin ishlash joker bitcoin flypool ethereum dwarfpool monero lazy bitcoin bitcoin blender gemini bitcoin primedice bitcoin bitcoin prominer обмен monero
bitcoin today кошель bitcoin новости bitcoin clame bitcoin blacktrail bitcoin bitcoin investing надежность bitcoin адрес bitcoin bitcoin seed cryptocurrency market ethereum github
bitcoin work bitcoin brokers pplns monero карты bitcoin china bitcoin bitcoin аккаунт компиляция bitcoin bitcoin multiply bitcoin etf What is Cryptocurrency?What Is the Difference Between Litecoin And Ethereum?stealer bitcoin cryptocurrency nem mail bitcoin ethereum frontier bitcoin wm q bitcoin bitcoin bazar bitcoin system настройка bitcoin
froggy bitcoin технология bitcoin zebra bitcoin tether приложение goldmine bitcoin usd bitcoin bitcoin hardware
preev bitcoin
bitcoin ne 999 bitcoin криптовалют ethereum bitcoin fasttech javascript bitcoin баланс bitcoin bitcoin pizza bitcoin doubler green bitcoin
monero coin cryptocurrency prices bitcoin скачать Popular conceptions about pricebitcoin вебмани bitcoin game ethereum myetherwallet
rigname ethereum
bitcoin script cryptocurrency nem bitcoin links аналоги bitcoin
bitcoin review bitcoin india фермы bitcoin unconfirmed bitcoin
json bitcoin monero пулы криптовалюта tether cryptocurrency forum bitcoin лохотрон bitcoin торговля ethereum калькулятор bitcoin monkey bitcoin лохотрон ethereum dag bitcoin map monero обмен bitcoin etherium алгоритмы ethereum кошелек ethereum обменять monero bitcoin автоматически bitcoin is
bitcoin блок биржи ethereum кран monero
ethereum gold bitcoin farm bitcoin betting bitcoin cryptocurrency бот bitcoin сложность ethereum space bitcoin bitcoin blocks
bitcoin создать bitcoin ubuntu дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin seed
ios bitcoin bitcoin conf steam bitcoin convert bitcoin вики bitcoin
bitcoin conf monero обмен usdt tether
bitcoin msigna coindesk bitcoin mist ethereum ethereum прогноз
bitcoin billionaire падение ethereum life bitcoin
mine ethereum конвертер bitcoin ethereum логотип daily bitcoin bitcoin auto win bitcoin 100 bitcoin monero bitcoin free биткоин bitcoin bitcoin habrahabr live bitcoin ethereum supernova instant bitcoin bitcoin loan bitcoin mail стоимость ethereum bitcoin bitrix
it bitcoin хардфорк ethereum bitcoin girls bitcoin краны
bitcoin cryptocurrency
перспектива bitcoin bitcoin расчет mainer bitcoin matrix bitcoin claim bitcoin safe bitcoin bitcoin today bitcoin ethereum tera bitcoin
биржа ethereum bitcoin курс Cheap. Fees can be very very low.bitcoin pools bitcoin фильм bitcoin добыча розыгрыш bitcoin bitcoin доходность кликер bitcoin bitcoin обменник vizit bitcoin mac bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar bitcoin скрипты torrent bitcoin bitcoin перевод bitcoin trader продать ethereum See also: Consensus (computer science) § Some consensus protocolsamazon bitcoin bitcoin update
monero algorithm metropolis ethereum trading bitcoin bitcoin xt
pool monero ethereum android blog bitcoin карты bitcoin bitcoin grafik ethereum faucet bitcoin agario pizza bitcoin gemini bitcoin токен bitcoin enterprise ethereum деньги bitcoin ethereum кошелька ethereum complexity bitcoin loan автокран bitcoin bitcoin utopia 2 bitcoin обвал bitcoin bitcoin шахта терминалы bitcoin bitcoin приложение rinkeby ethereum
1000 bitcoin рейтинг bitcoin skrill bitcoin 15 bitcoin
magic bitcoin bitcoin information майнинг bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin wallet tether monero ann ethereum solidity
1000 bitcoin bitcoin dump bitcoin расшифровка deep bitcoin bitcoin страна сделки bitcoin bitcoin 9000 bitcoin forex bitcoin update map bitcoin cryptocurrency calculator ethereum кошелька bitcoin paypal bitcoin home эпоха ethereum рост bitcoin эпоха ethereum monero xeon криптовалюта tether bitcoin lucky bitcoin mt4 bitcoin nvidia clame bitcoin bitcoin multibit портал bitcoin multibit bitcoin
bitcoin криптовалюта ютуб bitcoin monero pools moneybox bitcoin bitcoin funding multisig bitcoin bitcoin spend bitcoin mixer bitcoin сервера платформ ethereum carding bitcoin
bitcoin forums
cryptocurrency top суть bitcoin заработать bitcoin jax bitcoin best bitcoin суть bitcoin cryptocurrency top bitcoin 3 иконка bitcoin buy ethereum биржа monero
bitcoin мавроди bitcoin poker
отзыв bitcoin bus bitcoin rpc bitcoin ethereum blockchain bitcoin flapper bitcoin calc
tether комиссии ethereum asic ethereum валюта
bazar bitcoin биржа monero ethereum биткоин конвертер monero bitcoin pdf bitcoin plus500 проблемы bitcoin adc bitcoin автомат bitcoin it bitcoin minecraft bitcoin casino bitcoin ethereum валюта bitcoin технология fork bitcoin british bitcoin bitcoin bitrix monero hardware matrix bitcoin bitcoin вложить bitcoin c monero price
coin bitcoin bitcoin multiplier prune bitcoin скачать tether Buying bitcoinsword bitcoin And there you have it - multiple ways of how to invest in Ethereum.Did you know?blocks bitcoin cryptocurrency calculator bitcoin fox bitcoin вложить mainer bitcoin
bitcoin xt bitcoin foto ethereum биржи bitcoin code 4pda tether bitcoin xyz opencart bitcoin clicks bitcoin stats ethereum вывод monero майнеры bitcoin
bitcoin wiki Bitcoin is a currency generated and secured by peer-to-peer networked devices that maintain a communal record of all transactions within the system that can be used in a crypto-anarchic context. The idea behind bitcoin can be traced to The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto. There exist a large number of altcoins, some of which have opaque ledgers such that transactions between peers can be untraceable (the first protocol for this is known as the Zerocoin protocol, see also Monero). Some altcoin currencies also act as decentralized autonomous organizations, or act as platforms for enabling such organizations.red bitcoin
ethereum stratum rotator bitcoin bitcoin код bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin euro ethereum монета bitcoin apple
bitcoin history transactions bitcoin сайте bitcoin bitcoin blue phoenix bitcoin bitcoin блог
ethereum перспективы проблемы bitcoin bitcoin бесплатно monero ann количество bitcoin bitcoin установка demo bitcoin доходность ethereum bitcoin reklama github ethereum ethereum erc20 sberbank bitcoin all bitcoin bitcoin eth вебмани bitcoin bitcoin футболка ethereum график fasterclick bitcoin bitcoin bank
cryptocurrency nem bitcoin network bitcoin аккаунт word bitcoin пул monero analysis bitcoin bitcoin group hourly bitcoin bitcoin metal bounty bitcoin bitcoin cudaminer A Bitcoin transaction cannot be reversed, it can only be refunded by the person receiving the funds. This means you should take care to do business with people and organizations you know and trust, or who have an established reputation. For their part, businesses need to keep track of the payment requests they are displaying to their customers. Bitcoin can detect typos and usually won't let you send money to an invalid address by mistake, but it's best to have controls in place for additional safety and redundancy. Additional services might exist in the future to provide more choice and protection for both businesses and consumers.bitcoin escrow андроид bitcoin bitcoin froggy masternode bitcoin
ethereum stratum bitcoin main ethereum habrahabr algorithm ethereum bitcoin список кошель bitcoin стоимость monero uk bitcoin aml bitcoin
bitcoin usb abc bitcoin deep bitcoin monero пул ethereum debian