Human rights defenders say bitcoin is critical in authoritarian countries

WASHINGTON – One week after prominent technologists publicly criticized crypto for being too risky and untested in a letter to Congress, human rights defenders from around the world have sent a rebuttal to U.S. lawmakers defending digital assets for access to people in countries where “local currencies are collapsing, breaking or being cut off from the outside world. “

Around 21 human rights activists from 20 different countries said in the letter that they have trusted bitcoin and stablecoins, which allow trading in and out of crypto without going through a bank, “like tens of millions of others living under authoritarian regimes or unstable economies. “

The lobbying of US lawmakers comes when Congress considers laws that will regulate digital assets, which have been particularly volatile this year. Sens. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, on Tuesday introduced legislation to create a regulatory framework for the crypto markets. Because U.S. lawmakers effectively set policies and standards for the world, a draconian response in Washington, DC, could have major consequences worldwide.

In addition to their use in trade and speculative investments, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have seen increased use in recent months, as people from many different countries sent tens of millions of dollars to Ukraine via crypto payment rails to support war efforts and defense against Russia.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians who fled the country were able to take their money in the form of cryptocurrency stored on a USB drive. A similar story unfolded in Afghanistan in August, when the Taliban took over the country and the banks there shut down.

“Bitcoin provides financial inclusion and authority because it is open and unlicensed,” the latest letter said. “We are not industry financiers or professional lobbyists, but humanitarian and pro-democracy activists who have used bitcoin to help people in danger when other alternatives have failed.”

The letter cites Nigeria, Turkey and Argentina as places where local currencies no longer function properly and people need the relative stability of decentralized digital money for protection.

Last week, a group of prominent technologists presented to Congress the opposite side of history. They said the world was witnessing a growing number of disasters “related to blockchain technologies and investments in cryptocurrencies,” and described these events as “the inevitable outcomes of a technology that is not built for the purpose and will remain unsuitable forever as a foundation.” large-scale economic activity. “

Alex Gladstein, head of strategy for the Human Rights Foundation and one of the signatories of Tuesday’s letter, noted that 23 of the 25 people who wrote the anti-crypto letter are from the United States or Europe, “where they enjoy dollars and euros.”

Gladstein said that in reality, bitcoin and stack coins help save people from real humanitarian disasters in places like Lebanon and Venezuela.

“One can almost apologize to the 25 technologists who wrote the anti-cryptocurrency letter for not understanding the global impact of bitcoin,” Gladstein said in an interview.

One of the 25 crypto critics was Tim Bray, who previously worked as a senior engineer at Amazon. He told CNBC that crypto has two major problems: “The technology is not very good,” and there is a spreading “culture of sleaze and blankets and NFTs and ponzis.” NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital collectibles that have risen and crashed in value at various times over the past year.

But Gladstein and his allies say the perspective comes from people in the West who have never experienced “the atrocities of monetary colonialism, misogynistic fiscal policy, frozen bank accounts, exploitative money transfer companies and an inability to connect to the global economy.”

“If Congress intends to limit Americans’ ability to use bitcoin, it must know that this will have significant negative effects on the millions of people who depend on it around the world,” Gladstein said.

SEE: Sen. Lummis on the Crypto Oversight Bill and why stack coins need to be backed by hard assets