On Nov 14 the Human Rights Foundation will launch its CBDC Tracker at the National Press Club in Washington, DC
The Tracker will go online for the first time, providing the public with a resource to examine the progress and risks of CBDC implementation worldwide
Like paper dollars or euros, CBDCs are liabilities of central banks
Unlike paper dollars or euros, CBDCs do not offer the privacy protections, neutrality, or finality of cash
Virtually all money today is already digital, but it is typically issued and controlled by private banks and fintech companies, even in dictatorships like China
When consumers use a credit card, spending is at the discretion of the corporation that issued the card
When consumers deposit money into their bank accounts, their funds are liabilities of the bank
CBDCs are an effort to:
1) Replace paper cash with government-issued, government controlled digital credits
2) Reduce the power of private banks
3) Expand state control over the economy
Paper cash doesnāt require identification, can be used by anyone with no discrimination, and cannot be easily tracked
As such, cash is a daily tool of human rights activists, dissidents, and civil society, especially under authoritarian regimes
CBDCs stand to potentially phase out this tool for human rights defenders, making them entirely reliant on currency that is surveilled and easily frozen and censored
Unlike cash, CBDCs can require ID, have expiration dates, be remotely
frozen, and abide by blacklists
HRF believes CBDCs pose a significant threat to human rights work worldwide, especially for people living under tyranny
More than 100 countries are researching CBDCs, while more than 20 have pilots, and a handful of governments have already launched some kind of retail product
Russia, India, the EU, the US, Brazil, and other major governments
have all signaled intent to pursue CBDC projects
HRF considers it important to track these activities and document what risk they pose to human rights
We are pleased to be working with the Bitcoin Policy Institute to launch the CBDC Tracker at the National Press Club in Washington at 10:00am ET on November 14th
We are excited to share the work of the project authors: Nick Anthony, Janine Roem, and Matthew Mezinskis
If you would like to learn more about the project or RSVP to the launch event, please contact @npub1cf3ā¦x7gk
We look forward to sharing the resource with all of you on Nov 14
https://cbdchumanrights.org/ https://image.nostr.build/5dcb01114749a54fb356f344bd20d936351cd18d12b3e7ab15c1a0fdcfd9a605.jpg
Indonesia Bitcoin Conference was awesome. Iād highly recommend you consider going next year
Bali is definitely far but definitely worth it
The conference was well produced in a terrific setting with excellent networking space, opportunities to meet local vendors, and fun side events to do with the speakers and guests
I met tons of Bitcoiners from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, India, Australia, Philippines, and beyond
Itās high time that SE Asia have a Bitcoin conference of this quality
Stay a couple extra days and hike a volcano, snorkel or dive in the incredible coral reefs, chill on the beach, explore temples and waterfalls, and sample some of the outstanding global fusion cuisine
Canāt say enough about the quality of food, if you are willing to do some reach and poke around. Some of the best meals I have had
In short: I will be back! https://image.nostr.build/7f5e0c2306e0c5dc660681e28570d15eecce9b5e1ae341cb43a229b776ac0f4b.jpg
There are two big stories in the global economy that I am exploring in my work:
One is the individual in a world where money is transforming from a bearer asset to a mechanism of control. This is where the classic human rights stuff comes in: NGOs getting their bank accounts frozen, reporters unable to get paid in dictatorships, central bank digital currencies and surveillance, bank blacklists, politicization of the banking system, etc
The second story is an international one, where we have a currency caste system with the dollar on top. Born into Pakistan or Egypt? Tough luck, your local fiat currency -- which is what you earn your wages in -- is being devalued way way faster than you'll ever get a raise. And it is devalued so that your country can, in large part, export more stuff cheaply so it can earn some dollars or euros to pay back debt and buy weapons.
Bitcoin poses challenges to both systems. It is a parallel economy for individuals that governments cannot stop. And, secondly, it is an escape from currency devaluation and potentially, in the long run, a way for developing countries to get out from under debt colonialism
These topics are explored at length in my recent interview with Nate Hagens on his Great Simplification show
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/72-alex-gladstein
āThere will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this: Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrections are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this: The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural.
Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this: Try."
āKaris Nemik
Brilliant speech from Andor
If you havenāt seen it yetā¦ watch it, it will exceed your expectations https://cdn.nostr.build/i/65cfd7800494f5bdadd01c19b10624931a33486b3f988af03298170c02a1168b.jpg
My blurb for @npub1a2cā¦w83aās new book
Run, donāt walk, and get a copy today
āIf you could only read one book to learn about money, itās this one. Alden spans geopolitics, world history, human rights, systems analysis, and computer engineering to add fresh insight to and link together the work of the worldās most influential economic thinkers. āBroken Moneyā is a sweeping and lucid account of the evolution of the modern financial system that reminds us that money is fundamentally a human subject, with costs and benefits that affect billions of people every day. She presents a unified theory of money that acknowledges the merits of both credit and commodity camps and marries them with technological and humanitarian perspectives to show how we got here and predict where we are going. She speaks plainly and removes the veil of jargon from finance so we can see what hides behind: a continual devaluation of individual financial liberty and a corresponding increase in government authority. āBroken Moneyā shows that the story of currency and finance is actually a story about freedom versus control, and Alden ends the book with a blueprint of how, against all odds, freedom might win.ā
https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Money-Financial-System-Failing/dp/B0CG83QBJ6
No one could possibly argue itās a bad idea for families or businesses in Argentina to try to earn and save in dollars versus pesos
But the establishment says dollarization will be bad for Argentina
Think about that for a secondā¦
They want to uphold the Currency Caste System
The System is one set of rules for a small few, and a different set of much worse rules for the rest
Itās important to keep weak or dead currencies alive in the System, to keep selective wage devaluation going
The incentives are such that the System will not reform itself
But Bitcoin disrupts the System
If, over time, we grow into a global economy with one neutral open decentralized reserve currency, not issued by any one state or alliance, then the System breaks down and a new one emerges
There will be new problems with the new system, but it presents a world where everyone uses the same kind of money, instead of a world where your birth determines the quality of money that you earn your wages inā¦
This is a world, in my view, worth striving for
Where people in Argentina and Nigeria and Iran earn the same type of money as people in the US and Germany.. where it is all open and interconnected instead of walled offā¦
Monetary unity instead of division
āļø
āYour life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the Matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts, I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. Which has led you, inexorably, here.ā
Boss Fiat, encountering Satoshi
āļø https://cdn.nostr.build/i/4bd8929974a076a77505605bd5058124e63910f419b6cc7c40b3c812ae7afa99.jpg
HRF added a new bounty to its challenge:
Bounty #11
1 BTC each to the first 2 popular self-custodial, open-source iOS or Android wallets that add send and receive support for BIP47 payment codes
The purpose of this bounty is to expand the privacy options available to Bitcoin users
If a wallet already has this functionality as of July 28, 2023, it is not eligible for this bounty
If a wallet has only send *or* receive functionality as of July 28, 2023, that team can claim a 0.5 BTC bounty for adding the other half of the functionality
āļø
https://hrfbounties.org/
NEW: HRF announces the Bitcoin Bounty Challenge
20 BTC up for grabs for 10 UX improvements to Bitcoin (mainly focused on mobile wallets) requested by dissidents and human rights groups from across the world š
Bounty #1: Open Sourcing the Design Guide
2 BTC to port the Bitcoin UI Kit from Figma to an open-source Penpot (@Penpotapp) project
Currently, the Bitcoin UI Kit is only available in a proprietary Figma file format
https://www.bitcoinuikit.com/
Bounty #2: Serverless Payjoin
2 BTC to deploy a production-ready version 2 payjoin protocol which may send and receive payjoin transactions without requiring a sender or recipient to operate a public server
https://payjoin.org
Bounty #3: End-to-End Encrypted Nostr Group Chats
2 BTC for the creation of end-to-end encrypted group chats powered by any popular Nostr client that do not leak metadata to third parties
Users must be able to chat with at least two other Nostr users
Bounty #4: Silent Payments
2 BTC for a mobile Bitcoin wallet which can send and receive Silent Payments in a private manner without requiring the user to run a full node
https://bitcoinops.org/en/topics/silent-payments/
Bounty #5: Human Readable Offers
2 BTC for a human-readable BOLT 12 offer generator feature integrated into a popular iOS or android bitcoin wallet
Bounty #6: Self-custodial Mobile Lightning Address
2 BTC for an easy-to-setup self-custodial mobile Lightning address generator integrated into a popular iOS or android bitcoin wallet
https://lightningaddress.com
Bounty #7: Mobile Border Wallets
2 BTC for the integration of @BorderWallets optionality in addition to a seed phrase for a popular iOS or android wallet
The user of the wallet should be easily able to choose to use border wallet functionality to create their seed
Bounty #8: Easy Mobile Multisig
2 BTC for the implementation of a ātap or airdrop to create 2 of 3ā multisig functionality for an open-source popular iOS or android wallet
The wallet must be self-custodial, with a method for users to recover funds using open-source software
Bounty #9: Frost Multisig Wallet
2 BTC to a FROST-powered dynamic mobile multisig that allows the user to modify the signer set without moving funds to a new address
The wallet must be self-custodial
Bounty #10: @CashuBTC
0.5 BTC for a fully-functional iOS Cashu app
0.5 BTC for a fully-functional Android Cashu app
0.5 BTC for an open-source Cashu web widget for anonymous paywalled content
0.5 BTC for Cashu-TS backup restore
https://cashu.space
*****
We are launching with an initial set of 10 bounty challenges
More bounties might be added as we go
An individual or team who fully solves any of the ten challenges will be eligible to receive a bounty of 2 BTC
For transparency: submissions will be shared with external industry experts to help us discern whether submissions meet bounty requirements
HRF will be making decisions in a charitable way for bounty submissions that make a good faith effort to meet the requirements
We will be leaning to the spirit, not the letter, of the law
Individuals and teams are encouraged to contact bounty at hrf dot org with any questions during the bounty process
HRF retains final approval on allocating prize funds
The Bitcoin Bounty Challenge will run until December 31, 2024
Any unclaimed bounties will convert into general operating funding for the HRFās Bitcoin Development Fund on January 1, 2025
An individual or team may collect any amount of bounties
If a leading wallet maker or for-profit corporation would like to compete, we would be delighted
To claim a bounty submit proof to bounty at hrf dot org
For full terms and conditions visit hrfbounties.org
This project was born out of 6 months of field research where HRF staff met with + interviewed a) dissidents and human rights NGO leaders from around the world and b) Bitcoin developers
The goal was to settle on a mix of desired upgrades to Bitcoin that seemed somewhat realistic
We fully expect a handful of these bounties to be claimed by the end of next year
We fully expect the bounties to spark debate, arguments, new ideas, criticism, and other stuff that may indirectly help Bitcoin and Bitcoin users
We *do not expect* all of bounties to be claimed
You all have 523 days left
Good luck!
And big thanks to @BitcoinMagazine for covering the news :)
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/human-rights-foundation-announces-20-btc-bounty-challenge-for-bitcoin-development
What if our monetary future does not continue down the path of centralization and debasement but, rather, follows a new path of decentralization and growing value? Todayās dollar hegemony was engineered by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. Tomorrow, the currency of America could be based on the twin ideals of the Founding Fathers and Satoshi Nakamoto.
Unlike America, which lost its first battle over centralization just a few years after its founding, Bitcoin won its first battle over centralization during the Blocksize War, where user control and personal freedom defeated business interests and the concentration of power.
On July 4, 1821, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams warned of an America that would become a global imperium āin search of monsters to destroy.ā An America where the āfundamental maxims of her policyā have āinsensibly changed from liberty to force,ā where we have become āthe dictatress of the world.ā
Perhaps Bitcoin can help Americans reflect on our history and remember that our true glory, in Adamsās words, is ānot dominion, but liberty,ā and that our true march is āof the mindā and not the sword.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-and-the-american-idea
Spent 2+ hours with Nate Hagens covering human rights, the global monetary system, the petrodollar, energy and currency, debt imperialism, and finally, Bitcoin
I love Nateās work so was thrilled to join him for his show
His thesis of a āgreat simplificationā based on exhaustion of fossil fuels lines up with the belief of many Bitcoiners that we will eventually have a fiat credit collapse
Nate is a Bitcoin skeptic but is very open minded, this was one of my favorite conversations, and Iād offer that itās a good one to share with progressives or centrists or really anyone new to Bitcoin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u84tyIokAY8
