Bitcoin ‘fixes democracy’ and fights corruption: Human Rights Foundation

• Bitcoin repairs broken democracies by limiting the government’s ability to control its people, says HRF CSO.
• Russia and China, both of which are the world’s largest autocracies, have been hostile to cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin [BTC] repairs broken democracies and fights government corruption by limiting the government’s ability to control the people, according to Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of the Human Rights Foundation and a Bitcoin advocate.

Gladstein argued in an interview, conducted on February 20, that Bitcoin’s decentralized nature can act as a barrier against corruption and tyranny.

He said:

“Where democracies have broken down, I think it’s very clearly tied to fiat currency, and I think Bitcoin sort of fixes that.”

Gladstein serves as head of strategy at HRF and has worked at the non-profit organization since 2007. HRF’s mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world, especially in countries where people live under authoritarian rule.

Gladstein argued that Bitcoin represents free speech, property rights and open capital markets, all of which are being stifled by a tyrannical government that often relies on censorship, confiscation and closed capital markets.

Gladstein added,

“This is what China and Russia need to survive – they need censorship, they need close capital markets and they need confiscation, Bitcoin makes it very difficult for governments to impose these things on their people.”

Russia and China, both of which are the world’s largest autocracies, have been hostile to cryptocurrency in the past. The Chinese government banned virtually all cryptocurrency transactions in 2021; However, the upcoming crypto licensing regime in Hong Kong has led to speculation that China’s stance on cryptocurrency is becoming receptive.

Gladstein’s view is not unique

Gladstein is not the first person to voice such opinions about cryptocurrency. In a 2021 post, Bitcoin infrastructure provider OpenNode expressed similar sentiments about the benefit of BTC donations in the fight against official crackdowns.

OpenNode claimed:

“One of the advantages of Bitcoin is its censorship resistance.”

In addition, Gladstein predicted that in the coming years, more people will have technical and liquidity problems with traditional financial services, which will lead them to switch to BTC as an alternative.