By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 2 January 2024
At the start of 2024, the Human Rights Foundation was backing bitcoin projects as tools for financial independence and protection against political oppression. The article profiles Bitcoin Dada, an initiative led by Lorraine Marcel and supported by the HRF, which taught bitcoin to African women in countries from Kenya to Nigeria, where bitcoin adoption was among the highest in the world.
It also tells the story of Win Ko Ko Aung, a democracy campaigner whose assets were frozen after the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021. He used bitcoin to fund his escape and later received asylum in the United States. A third example is an anonymous Bitcoin Core developer funded by the HRF, who worked on privacy and security features, which the article presents as important for people living under authoritarian regimes.