Today, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) announced its most recent round of Bitcoin Development Fund grants, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. 

$500,000 is being granted across 14 different projects around the world focusing on global education, Lightning Network development, decentralized communications, and providing nonprofits and human rights groups with an easier onramp to “financial freedom tools,” per the release. The main areas of focus for these grants center around Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

This announcement comes only a few months after their last round of grants in December, also donating $500,000 to worldwide Bitcoin projects. While the HRF did not disclose exactly how much money each project is receiving, the following 14 projects are the recipients of today’s round of grants worth $500,000 in total:

USD E-Cash for Bitcoin by Calle, a USD-based Chaumian e-cash system built on the Cashu protocol. This system aims to enable private, affordable, and stable use of USD-denominated credits, all interoperable with the broader Bitcoin Lightning network. USD E-Cash is positioned as an alternative to major stablecoins, in that it does not have any connection to the traditional banking system. The core idea is that activists anywhere can exchange their bitcoin for privacy-protecting dollar-denominated E-Cash, with the trade-off of being custodial. Funding will support the full development of this project.

BTCPay Server, a free, open-source, self-hosted payment solution that enables individuals and businesses to accept Bitcoin payments. BTCPay provides a platform for merchants in difficult political and economic climates to process global payments, manage crowdfunding campaigns, and offers developers opportunities to kickstart their projects on top of Bitcoin. Funding for BTCPay Server will support UI/UX improvements, feature enhancements, contributor rewards, and training programs.

BOB Builders Residency Program, an in-person residency for Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) developers located in Thailand. The new cohort of developers will focus on “Toolings to Reinforce Bitcoin’s Decentralization,” to combat centralizing forces in the software ecosystem. The previous cohort, also supported by HRF, focused on privacy. Funds will be used to support the residents of this second cohort, covering living and travel expenses.

Yibaochina.com 议报中文, a popular news platform led by Citizen Power Initiatives for China, serves Chinese scholars, intellects, and writers abroad. Dedicated to promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in the global Chinese-speaking community, Yibao has gained a significant readership, particularly in pro-democracy communities within China. HRF’s grant will support the wages of writers, editors, and translators of the site, as well as social media promotion efforts, as they translate Bitcoin educational materials and news items into Chinese for wide circulation into the world’s biggest dictatorship.

Bitcoin Innovation Hub, a physical space and community center promoting the socioeconomic transformation of refugees, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable communities led by Noble Nyangoma in Kampala, Uganda. The hub offers a range of vocational training and financial literacy to women and men in various fields, where they learn how to use and how to earn Bitcoin, regardless of what kind of ID they hold. Funding will support the addition of vocational classes (ie. digital skills, carpentry, and baking) for thousands of students in the East African region, enabling stateless communities to earn Bitcoin for their work.

BITCOIN DADA, a non-profit initiative founded by Kenyan entrepreneur Lorraine Marcel, aims to empower African women through financial education. BITCOIN DADA provides a safe space for women to learn about Bitcoin as a tool for financial freedom and build up their skill set. Funds will support the expansion across Africa, the creation of multilingual educational resources, and promote women-led businesses adopting Bitcoin. The grants in this round to Bitcoin DADA and to the Bitcoin Innovation Hub are generously supported by Strike’s nonprofit initiative.

The Bitcoin Design Foundation, which supports the Bitcoin Design Community, is dedicated to providing design infrastructure and resources to bitcoin designers and developers, including those building for people living under authoritarian regimes and in developing economies. The funding will support the development of the Bitcoin UI Kit (a resource that help people learn, design, prototype, and build full bitcoin applications) as well as the addition of new and emerging techniques for privacy and self-sovereignty in the Bitcoin Design Guide. Improving the UX of Bitcoin wallets remains one of its top goals.

Bitcoin Op-Tech, a technical Bitcoin newsletter renowned for its industry-leading resources, technologies, and techniques tailored for Bitcoin developers, businesses, and organizations. The newsletter regularly covers issues of privacy, censorship-resistance, and decentralization which are core to HRF’s mission. Additionally, Bitcoin Op-Tech offers workshops, documentation, original research, and case studies. Funds will be allocated towards operational expenses and growth strategies.

Damus Android, a communications application using the nostr protocol. Developed by Will Casarin, Damus ensures free speech online — critical for people living in difficult political environments without being censored — and enables users to receive Bitcoin through its “zapping” functionality. Funding will be used to develop the Damus application for Android devices, helping to potentially onboard millions of new users in authoritarian countries and the developing world.

Bitcoin Core Developer Pablo Martin, whose initial work addressed a vulnerability that caused a Bitcoin node to crash and shut down. Martin continues to contribute, review, and put forth proposals advancing Bitcoin, including the http-rest interface, bitcoin-cli, p2p, rpc, and the wallet within the Bitcoin repository, while also contributing to Bitcoin Core GUI repositories. Funds will support his ongoing contributions to Bitcoin development, the likes of which are crucial to keeping Bitcoin a secure tool for activists everywhere.

LNbits, a multi-user and account system for the Lightning Network, enables users to create separate Lightning wallets for friends and family. Built by software developer Ben Arc, LNbits aims to decentralize custodianship and provides users with a robust suite of Bitcoin tools they can run for themselves, for others, or as part of a stack. Funding will support the core contributors’ salaries, bounties, and educational outreach efforts through workshops and video tutorials.

Bitcoin Policy Summit 2024, a one-day conference bringing together policymakers, academics, and industry leaders to explore the opportunities and challenges of Bitcoin. The event aims to reshape the narrative surrounding Bitcoin, advocate for its benefits in liberal democracies, and highlight its potential to undermine closed societies. Funding will support event logistics, speaker travel, and attendance by human rights advocates.

Bitcoin for Billions, a series of informative videos created by Bitcoin educator, Paco de la India. The videos, initially available in four regional languages — Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, and Gujarati — aim to have a wide audience among the 750 million people in India who speak these languages. Topics include the concept of bitcoin as freedom money and practical guidance on purchasing and self-custodying bitcoin safely, items which are increasingly important under a regime that continues to trend more authoritarian. The grant will be used for research, content creation, translation, and promotion of the videos.

Scalar School, founded by Luciana Ferreira, a Brazil-based Bitcoin and Lightning development program dedicated to training early-stage Bitcoin developers. The school equips students with a comprehensive understanding of Bitcoin development, philosophy, and community engagement, preparing them for future opportunities in esteemed programs such as Chaincode Labs. The grant will go towards teachers’ salaries, training workshops, and university outreach and will give a boost towards developers living in South America.

More about the HRF

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. The HRF continues to raise support for the Bitcoin Development Fund, and applications for support can be submitted here. 

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Today, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) announced its most recent round of Bitcoin Development Fund grants, per a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. The money is being granted to 18 projects focusing on global education, Bitcoin Core development, mining decentralization, and allowing developers in closed societies to participate and present at industry conferences.

This announcement comes only a few months after their last round of grants in late September, also donating $500,000 to worldwide Bitcoin projects. While the HRF did not disclose exactly how much money each project is receiving, the following 18 projects are the recipients of today’s round of grants worth $500,000:

Mostro, a decentralized peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange built by Venezuelan developer Francisco Calderón on top of Nostr. Mostro aims to establish an open protocol and specialize for developers in authoritarian regimes. Funding will support Mostro’s progress in helping users in restrictive financial environments buy and sell bitcoin in a censorship-resistant way.

Mi Primer Bitcoin, a nonprofit organization providing open-source Bitcoin education in Central America. Their Bitcoin Diploma is already in use in countries such as El Salvador, South Africa, Portugal, Honduras, Cuba, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Uruguay. HRF funding will specifically support international expansion and translation of these materials to closed societies.

Arabic Hodl, which is making Bitcoin more accessible to more than 400 million Arabic-speaking people worldwide. Funds will support the creation of how-to guides, privacy and self-custody tutorials, educational podcasts, and foundational books on the principles of Bitcoin in Arabic, as well as best practices and how to get started with using and contributing to the network.

Netblocks to support their efforts to monitor and report Internet restrictions and shutdowns globally. The critical impact of shutdowns on human rights activists, journalists, and the general public’s right to freedom of expression, access to information, and political participation requires continuous monitoring. Funding will also support coverage of emerging threats to Internet connectivity, particularly those impacting the Bitcoin network.

Lorban for his work on Stratum V2, an upgrade on the current protocol Bitcoin miners use to communicate with pools. Stratum V2 enables mining pool users to select transactions for proposed blocks, instead of relying on templates from pools, increasing Bitcoin’s censorship resistance by reducing the problematic power of pools. Lorban will use HRF funding to improve the Stratum V2 Reference Implementation (SRI) and its testing tool, the Message Generator (MG).

John Carlson for his ongoing contributions to updating and improving the Bitcoin Core App project, permitting users to run Bitcoin on their phones. Through this work, John hopes to lower technical barriers, making self-custody and self-verification of Bitcoin transactions more accessible to a broader audience. Funding will also support his efforts to broaden compatibility with Android phones and tablets.

Area Bitcoin to expand its free Bitcoin educational content across multiple languages. Area Bitcoin, founded by Carol Souza and Kaka Furlan, is a prominent Bitcoin educational resource based in Brazil, primarily operating in Portuguese, with over 300,000 followers. Funding will support developing and translating videos and articles into Spanish and English to help target a wider audience in Latin America.

Berta Valle for Bitcoin educational work in Nicaragua, focusing on the human rights defender community. She will use funds to establish an interactive online Bitcoin training program for Nicaraguan dissidents and civil society leaders and help them become more resilient and robust in their efforts to resist the Ortega regime.

Bitshala, an education initiative led by Indian Bitcoiners that provides guidance and resources to developers entering the Bitcoin space. Bitshala will use funding to create a repository of tutorials and technical presentations, organize study groups, hold PR reviews, and nurture a vibrant Bitcoin community in India.

Hack.BS, a nonprofit association based in Italy. Funding will be used to open a cypherpunk hackerspace, acting as a collaborative co-working center by day and an active events space, hosting meetups, workshops, and hackathons by night. Funds will also be used to help internationalize the center and bring in global expertise in the areas of financial freedom and the defense of privacy.

Bitcoin Deepa, also known as the Pearl of Satoshi, to expand the Sri Lankan Bitcoin community. Funds will support monthly Bitcoin meetups in cities like Colombo, Galle, Kandy, and Ella; assist merchants in adopting self-custodial Bitcoin acceptance methods; introducing BoltCard-based Lightning solutions; and enhancing education through translations. Funds will also support the launch of a Sinhalese-language podcast, “Bitcoin Katha.”

Exonumia, a nonprofit translating Bitcoin educational content into native African languages such as Shona, Malagasy, Amharic, Kiswahili, and Lingala. Funding will support Exonumia’s efforts to translate additional content into more languages, raise awareness of Bitcoin, and grow financial-freedom-oriented communities.

Louisa, for her efforts in creating a Bitcoin privacy guide for beginners, with a special focus on activists, dissidents, and NGOs operating in hostile environments. The guide will help newcomers learn about privacy risks, assess personal threat vectors, learn privacy-preserving techniques, and understand Bitcoin’s technology to make careful and informed decisions around privacy.

Groundswell, a project founded by Hadiya Masieh that supports free Bitcoin education to diaspora and exile communities in the United Kingdom, particularly refugees from the Middle East. Funds will be used to host workshops, create training materials, set up wallets, onboard refugees with their first satoshis, and educate refugees on how to send bitcoin to their families back home.

Kulpreet Singh for his work on Braidpool, a proposed peer-to-peer mining pool designed to enhance Bitcoin’s censorship resistance. Braidpool empowers miners to build their blocks, reducing the influence of pool operators to delay or prevent payouts. Funds will enable Kulpreet’s continued development of Braidpool to increase Bitcoin’s censorship resistance and further decentralization.

SeedSigner, a DIY bitcoin signing device that anyone, anywhere can build on their own. Funds will facilitate the final stages of MicroPython research and development, eliminate Raspberry Pi dependencies, and enable operations on affordable microcontrollers to make Bitcoin self-custody even more affordable for the masses.

bitcoin++, a developer-focused conference series around the world. With a focus on long-form lectures and workshops, developers will dive deep into the cutting edge of Bitcoin technology. Funding will cover educational efforts, general conference expenses, as well as travel expenses for developers from authoritarian countries.

Bitcoin Atlantis, a Bitcoin conference taking place March 1 to 3 in Madeira, Portugal. HRF funding will help human rights defenders, civil society leaders, and educators working in dictatorships to attend the event, share their experiences, and gain new contacts and resources.

MORE ABOUT THE HRF

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. The HRF continues to raise support for the Bitcoin Development Fund, and proposals for support can be submitted to [email protected].

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Earlier today, The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) announced their latest round of philanthropic efforts from their Bitcoin Development Fund. These 15 grants from HRF are focused on worldwide education, Bitcoin Core development, lightning-related DLCs, ecash, and providing developers from repressive regimes financial aid to offset travel costs in order to speak at Bitcoin events across the world, with a noted focus on projects and contributors from Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.

The grant program includes seven $50,000 grants, five $25,000 grants, and three $10,000 grants, totaling just over half a million US dollars, or about 19 bitcoin at time of publishing. 

This announcement comes only a few months after the launch of their 20 bitcoin bounty challenge, bringing the HRF’s pledged contributions to bettering both Bitcoin and the working lives of those developing it to nearly 40 BTC since July.

So far, only the “Open Sourcing the Design Guide” bounty has been claimed and half of the “End-to-End Encrypted Nostr Group Chats” bounty has been awarded. Bounties will be open until December 31, 2024, with more updates and details available here.

As for the newly announced grant winners themselves, $50,000 will be given to Gee Deer for his work on Bitcoin Core and Lightning native stablecoins. Using Discrete Log Contracts (DLCs), Gee’s proposed stablecoin will attempt to minimize counterparty risk and increase potential decentralization of US dollar instruments. Gee will also continue assisting developers, examining code, and further testing Bitcoin Core.

Jarol Rodriguez will get $50,000 for his contributions to Bitcoin Core. Jarol will make use of the money to evaluate PRs and solve problems in Bitcoin Core, increase developer education, enhance the Bitcoin Core App — a free and open-source project regarded as the standard implementation of a Bitcoin node — and contribute to making it feasible to operate a Bitcoin Core node on a mobile device.

$50,000 will be given to Furszy for his contribution to Bitcoin Core, where he ranks in the top 10. By analyzing PRs, correcting bugs, suggesting performance and code improvements, and adding to public debates and discourse, he will be able to use this funding to continue making crucial contributions to improving the stability, performance, and security of Bitcoin Core’s software.

Summer of Bitcoin will receive $50,000 to fund their summer fellowship program. The goal of the international, online Summer of Bitcoin internship program is to familiarize college students with Bitcoin programming and design. More than 10,000 individuals from more than 70 nations applied to the 2023 program. Click here to apply and learn more about the summer program.

Justin Moeller will get $50,000 for his work on Fedimint. Justin will concentrate on putting in place a database migration system that will let guardians upgrade their Fedimint servers without constraint. Additionally, he will look at Fedimint’s current performance in order to find and improve the usage of ecash for users.

Giving the Kawaakibi Foundation $50,000 will help them create a MENA Bitcoin Hub. In order to help liberate one of the most repressive regions in the world, the MENA Bitcoin HUB will instruct activists, journalists, and organizations on how to use Bitcoin to transact freely, receive foreign donations, and retain their money safely and pseudonymously.

$50,000 will be awarded to Vinteum for their efforts to advance open source Bitcoin development in Brazil and Latin America. Funding will be used by Vinteum to help Latin American Bitcoin Core developers, cultivate Bitcoin communities, and establish a developer pipeline education program in the region.

Revolutionary cypherpunk D++ will receive $25,000 for her work on FOSS projects and worldwide educational activities. By offering talks and workshops at conferences in the Global South, hosting a free Bitcoin bootcamp and continuing maintaining Bitcoin Core and other FOSS projects, D++ will utilize funding to carry out worldwide Bitcoin education.

Bitcoin Ekasi, for their work creating a circular Bitcoin economy in South Africa, will receive $25,000. The money will be used to onboard new neighborhood companies to Bitcoin, pay the wages of coaches, instructors, and lifeguards, and run a skill development center to impart practical knowledge and Bitcoin expertise to the neighborhood. In the upcoming years, HRF anticipates that more villages in Africa will follow Bitcoin Ekasi’s lead.

Amiti Uttarwar will get $25,000 for her efforts on Bitcoin mentoring, ADDRMAN, and Bitcoin Bytes. The money will enable Amiti to coach Bitcoin Core developers to help them reach their full potential, enhance ADDRMAN to make Bitcoin nodes more secure and private, and continue her work on Bitcoin Bytes to serve as a platform for educating people about Bitcoin.

Ben Perrin will receive $25,000 to support his channel promoting global Bitcoin education. Ben teaches people about Bitcoin and is the host of the BTC Sessions on YouTube and X. Ben will be able to utilize funding to produce instructional materials aimed at educating dissidents on how to securely use Bitcoin as well as deliver in-person and online trainings and workshops to NGOs.

La Librería de Satoshi (Library of Satoshi) will receive $25,000 in support of its efforts to make technical education available to as many Spanish-speaking people as possible. To enable Spanish developers to become Bitcoin Core Contributors, Bitcoin technical Educators, developer advocates, and ecosystem entrepreneurs, La Librería de Satoshi will utilize the grant money to offer Bitcoin and Lightning courses.

With $10,000 in travel awards to three individual events, HRF will aid in financing the attendance of Bitcoin developers from challenging political environments. Awardees include the technical Bitcoin conference, TabConf, which was held in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this month, as well as the largest Bitcoin conference in Brazil, Satsconf, in Sao Paulo this November, and the upcoming Bitcoin++, a serialized developer conference currently dedicated to Nix and software reproducibility this October in Berlin, Germany.

“The Human Rights Foundation remains committed to advancing access to financial technology,” explained Christian Keroles, the Financial Freedom Director for HRF. “We believe this round of grants furthers both technical and educational causes to make Bitcoin more accessible globally, especially for the people who need it most.”

The Bitcoin Development Fund is open year-round where educators, developers, and meetups can apply for funding by sending a proposal to [email protected]. The majority of the following announced grants have already been paid out, with the remaining payouts being made shortly.

More details on the grants, the HRF and the Bitcoin Development Fund can be found here.

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This is an opinion editorial by Michael Matulef, an independent student of Austrian economics and member of the Mises Institute.

The impending U.S. presidential election has ignited a spark of excitement within the Bitcoin community, as various prospects have begun to vocalize their support for Bitcoin. Rising political interest in Bitcoin has culminated in the emergence of a so-called “orange party,” a movement characterized by Bitcoin enthusiasts transformed into single-issue voters. While the fervor surrounding this development is comprehensible, it is crucial to evaluate the potential ramifications of single-issue voting meticulously.

As Bitcoin continues to gain traction and mainstream recognition, its advocates are eager to see their preferred political candidates ascend to the highest office in the land. However, this eagerness must be tempered by a sober appreciation of the multifaceted nature of governance. Though tempting in its simplicity, single-issue voting often glosses over the intricacies of policy making and the interconnectedness of diverse issues. Individual liberty and freedom may be inadvertently imperiled if individuals place too great of an emphasis on a solitary concern.

While it’s natural for people to be passionate about a particular cause or issue, especially when it comes to Bitcoin, elevating one concern above all others can be perilous for individual liberty. By prioritizing a single issue, individuals may unknowingly compromise their own freedoms or the rights of others. This approach can lead to the implementation of policies that restrict personal liberties and infringe on individual rights. Additionally, single-issue politics often breeds polarization and divisiveness, undermining efforts to find common ground and compromise in matters that protect individual freedom.

Lysander Spooner’s Philosophical Insights

The philosophy of Lysander Spooner, a notable 19th-century thinker, offers valuable insights into the concept of voting and its relationship with freedom. According to Spooner, the right to vote is an innate and natural right that cannot be granted or restricted by any institution or legal framework. However, he also recognized that participating in the political process can have unintended consequences, such as reinforcing oppressive systems through the State’s monopoly on force and coercion.

Spooner’s perspectives on voting as a form of self-defense continues to reverberate in contemporary political discourse. In an era where many individuals feel that their hard-earned resources are vulnerable to exploitation via taxation or other governmental measures, the act of casting a ballot can be viewed as a preemptive strike against fiscal assault. Nevertheless, this utilitarian approach to voting does not automatically translate into unequivocal support for the governing apparatus or its policies.

As Spooner astutely observed, the lines between genuine consent and mere self-preservation become blurred when voters engage in strategic voting motivated by fear rather than conviction. Thus, the tension between individual autonomy and collective governance remains a pressing concern, prompting further exploration into innovative models of decision making and community organization that prioritize authentic consent and collaborative problem solving.

To quote Spooner:

“In truth, in the case of individuals, their actual voting is not to be taken as proof of consent, even for the time being. On the contrary, it is to be considered that, without his consent having even been asked a man finds himself environed by a government that he cannot resist; a government that forces him to pay money, render service, and forego the exercise of many of his natural rights, under peril of weighty punishments. He sees, too, that other men practice this tyranny over him by the use of the ballot. He sees further, that, if he will but use the ballot himself, he has some chance of relieving himself from this tyranny of others, by subjecting them to his own. In short, he finds himself, without his consent, so situated that, if he use the ballot, he may become a master; if he does not use it, he must become a slave. And he has no other alternative than these two. In self-defence, he attempts the former. His case is analogous to that of a man who has been forced into battle, where he must either kill others, or be killed himself. Because, to save his own life in battle, a man takes the lives of his opponents, it is not to be inferred that the battle is one of his own choosing. Neither in contests with the ballot — which is a mere substitute for a bullet — because, as his only chance of self-preservation, a man uses a ballot, is it to be inferred that the contest is one into which he voluntarily entered; that he voluntarily set up all his own natural rights, as a stake against those of others, to be lost or won by the mere power of numbers. On the contrary, it is to be considered that, in an exigency into which he had been forced by others, and in which no other means of self-defence offered, he, as a matter of necessity, used the only one that was left to him.

“Doubtless the most miserable of men, under the most oppressive government in the world, if allowed the ballot, would use it, if they could see any chance of thereby meliorating their condition. But it would not, therefore, be a legitimate inference that the government itself, that crushes them, was one which they had voluntarily set up, or even consented to.”

Bitcoin Enthusiasts: Beyond Political Means

The intricate nuances of political systems and their inherent constraints pose significant challenges for Bitcoin enthusiasts who seek to promote widespread adoption. The State’s stranglehold on force and coercion renders political efforts to advance Bitcoin’s cause potentially impotent or even counterproductive. Therefore, Bitcoiners must adopt a more multifaceted and resilient approach.

Rather than relying solely on political maneuvers, Bitcoin advocates should concentrate more of their energies on constructing parallel systems and fostering autonomous communities that function independently of State control. Consent-based systems and pervasive civil disobedience can serve as a more potent bulwark against State authority.

By creating and participating in alternative frameworks, we can aspire to undermine and circumvent traditional political powers. Through the support and development of decentralized networks and communities, we endeavor to establish a domain where individuals can interact and exchange value without the encumbrance of government intermediaries. This approach not only promotes financial inclusion and individual sovereignty but also nurtures a culture of resistance against oppressive hierarchies.

The Path To Freedom: Advocating For A Brighter Bitcoin Future

In conclusion, the ever-evolving relationship between Bitcoin and politics presents a captivating intersection of individual liberty and collective governance. As the impending U.S. presidential election sparks excitement within the Bitcoin community, we must tread carefully and thoughtfully, navigating the path to freedom with discernment.

The rise of the “orange party” is a testament to the growing significance of Bitcoin, yet it is essential to recognize the potential ramifications of single-issue voting. To preserve individual liberty and foster a resilient financial future, we must transcend the allure of simplistic solutions and embrace a multifaceted approach.

The profound insights of Spooner guide us in our quest for genuine consent and autonomy. While voting may sometimes be viewed as an act of self defense, it is not an unequivocal expression of consent, especially in the face of coercive structures. To promote a brighter Bitcoin future, we must explore innovative models of decision making and community organization that prioritize authenticity and collaboration.

Politics promises change yet coerces through centralized power. We must go beyond this illusion and act outside the system. True change happens not at the ballot box, but through grassroots education, adoption and the development of decentralized networks.

Let us become impassioned advocates for financial sovereignty, relentlessly educating and empowering our communities about the emancipatory promise of our peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Through persistent grassroots outreach, let us illuminate the transformative potential of decentralized sound money that cannot be debased or censored. We must patiently explain how tools like Bitcoin can enable ordinary people to opt-out of fiat manipulation and take control of their economic destinies. Our localization efforts should focus not just on spreading adoption, but on fostering active understanding so community members can wield financial autonomy as a means of independence and self-determination. Equipped with knowledge and agency, local networks can unravel the social control schemes of centralized money and develop resilient economies on their own terms and in their own interests. Let us become zealous-but-thoughtful champions dedicated to unlocking the liberatory possibilities of financial sovereignty. The first step is education and empowerment at the ground level.

Most importantly, we must ardently support the often-overlooked heroes — the developers tirelessly building censorship resistance into the technological backbone of this movement. Our appreciation must go beyond lip service and manifest through concrete actions. We can empower developers by donating to prominent projects, thereby providing the resources needed to strengthen the antifragility of our infrastructure. We can also fund bounties to incentivize features that expressly promote liberty, privacy and autonomy for users. For those able to contribute code, we must heed the call and directly participate in development. Even assisting with documentation and bug reporting strengthens the network. Developers are the beating heart of this mission, working thanklessly so that millions may attain financial freedom. Let us vigorously empower them to harden decentralized networks against coercion. Our contributions enable them to neutralize vulnerabilities before they are exploited to jeopardize liberty. A robust infrastructure is the only way to resist the threats of centralized powers seeking control. We must thus provide developers with the communal support they need to build technology that is censorship-proof, unstoppable and resilient in the face of any adversary, thereby securing financial autonomy for generations to come.

Progress happens not through idle hope, but daily, grassroots effort. Let us take concrete steps to further adoption and empower developers. Each small action brings us closer to emancipation from coercive structures. Through diligent work, we can build decentralized networks that circumvent centralized control. Voluntary communities, founded on financial autonomy, have no need for governing authorities. Politics promises change but is mired in a hollow spectacle. We must go beyond — building parallel systems that obsolete systems of coercion.

This is how we make self-sovereignty inevitable. Not by rhetoric or voting, but by groundwork. The revolution starts within our hearts, heads and hands. Our unified labor will inspire a future where financial freedom is not a distant dream, but a lived reality. We inch ever closer each time we patiently explain Bitcoin, fund censorship-resistant development and nourish community autonomy. Together, let us persist in this work one day at a time. At ballot boxes, change is only promised. But our efforts can guarantee it through perseverance. The future will remember not politicians, but those who toiled to build decentralized networks for the sake of autonomy. Where politicians fail, we will succeed.

This is a guest post by Michael Matulef. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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In what is perhaps the most articulate and thorough Bitcoin grant offering to date, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has announced a 20 BTC set of bounty challenges in support of open-source Bitcoin developers building tools and services that increase the functionality of Bitcoin. These selections, inspired by the HRF’s research and work with activists across the world, were carefully chosen to perpetuate usability and increase privacy applications within Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, ecash and Nostr.

The challenges will run through the end of 2024, with any unclaimed bounties being converted back into the HRF’s Bitcoin Development Fund. The bounties themselves have a clear privacy, censorship-resistance, and self-sovereignty focus, bringing much needed attention towards some of the greater problems Bitcoin faces today.

The first bounty is a 2 BTC reward to port the Bitcoin UI Kit to the open-source Penpot project from its current Figma file format. This kit is a large set of design components for builders to use when developing Bitcoin projects. In its current format, its use is limited to those operating proprietary software, and the HRF aims to sponsor the “replication of the Bitcoin UI Kit on Penpot,” actualizing free access and self-hosted instances.

The second bounty is a 2 BTC reward for a serverless implementation of a payjoin protocol. The bounty specifically calls for 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.” The Serverless Payjoin bounty asks for use of BIP-21 unified bitcoin URIs, and to remain independent from a trusted third party (hence serverless) which “could expose user privacy in a non-trivial way.”

The third bounty is another 2 BTC reward for the creation of a Nostr client implementation of end to end encrypted group chats which is incapable of leaking metadata to potentially malicious third parties. In order to be eligible, the group chat must enable three or more users to communicate, with no ability for outside adversaries to gather the content of the messages, nor the identity or frequency of the users messaging.

The fourth bounty is a 2 BTC reward for a mobile Bitcoin wallet capable of receiving and sending Silent Payments without the use of a client-side full node. The wallet must be open-source and multi-platform, with a backend that is interoperable with other mobile wallets. The bounty asks for compliance with the Silent Payments BIP, written by Josie Bake.

The fifth bounty, a 2 BTC reward for Human Readable Offers, calls for a bolt 12 offer generator to be integrated into a mobile wallet. Ideally, a bolt 12 offer could be communicated from a phone screen to a human without the use of copy and paste or a QR code scan, similar to how a Bitcoin or Lightning address is displayed.

The sixth bounty is a 2 BTC reward for a Lightning address generator within a mobile wallet that is self-custodial and accessible with just a smart phone. This implementation “should not require the user to set up their own web server.”

The seventh bounty is a 2 BTC reward for a mobile integration of border wallet functionality into a current Bitcoin wallet. The idea of a border wallet is to allow users to generate and practice memorizing their seed phrase for moments of cross-jurisdictional movement.

The eighth bounty, a 2 BTC reward for easy multisig functionality, is aiming to bring coordinated 2-of-3 multi-signature usability and generation within a mobile wallet at the tap of a button. The bounty also mentions the mobile wallet must remain self-custodial, complete with an open-source method to recover funds beyond the multisig application itself.

The ninth bounty is a 2 BTC reward for a self-custodial wallet implementation powered by FROST, or flexible round-optimal Schnorr threshold signatures. This dynamic multisig protocol must allow for modification of the signer set without transferring the funds to a different address.

The tenth and final bounty is a 2 BTC reward for the ecash protocol, Cashu. This bounty, unlike the others, is split up into four 0.5 BTC bounties, with specific requirements for further applications of this open-source Chaumian ecash system. Bounty A calls for an iOS Cashu app, while Bounty B calls for an Android Cashu app, both requiring a fully functioning, open-source wallet with the capability to support multiple mints, use seed phrase backups for fund recovery, as well as send and receive ecash over Nostr. Bounty C aims to bring to life an open-source Cashu web widget capable of enabling anonymous payments for paywalled content, capable of interacting with a user’s bitcoin address. The final bounty, Bounty D, is a half bitcoin reward for actualizing Cashu-TS backup restore, Cashu-TS being a popular Cashu wallet library for application development. Users must be able to restore balances across various implementations of Cashu in order to provide security of users via a seed phrase back up scheme akin to how most users back up their bitcoin wallet.

The HRF stated that this is an “initial set” of 10 bitcoin challenges, and more bounties may be added as time goes on. The team or individual developer who “fully solves” any of the Bitcoin bounty challenges will be eligible to receive the 2 BTC bounty. All eligible submissions will be discussed among external industry experts in order to select the submission best meeting the requirements of their challenge.

Individuals and parties interested in participating are asked to contact [email protected] with any question, and more details about the bounties can be found here. 

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Last Saturday, over 500 people gathered in the Argentine Polo Field to create the largest human ₿ in the world in celebration of the 10th anniversary of NGO Bitcoin Argentina. The event aimed to showcase the technology’s ability to mobilize people in defense of monetary freedom, privacy, and other values of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The human ₿, sitting at a massive 40 meters, became the world’s largest bitcoin symbol. Jimena Vallone, director of Bitcoin Argentina, expressed hopes that this would be the first of many attempts to break the record.

The event was captured by drones, documenting the scale of the gathering both day and night. Attendees also enjoyed activities such as a Kahoot game, with winners receiving 212,121 satoshis.

The event aimed to highlight the advantages of Bitcoin as an alternative currency for Argentine citizens, particularly in light of traditional monetary models’ shortcomings. Media player Carlos Maslatón emphasized that Bitcoin was not subject to permission or state recognition, making it an accessible and innovative currency.

The event attracted attendees of all ages, each with their own motivations, including concerns about inflation, privacy, and desired changes in government models. The organizer stressed that the event was not focused solely on Argentina but aimed to send a message to the world in defense of the cryptocurrency ecosystem’s values. The orange umbrellas used in the formation of the human ₿ symbol represented Bitcoin’s role as protection against inflation and the global financial crisis.

Rodolfo Andragnes, founder of the NGO, expressed the need to defend the values of Bitcoin and announced upcoming events, including the ‘B•Arte Award’ and the LABITCONF conference, which would continue to promote action, intervention and revolution in different ways. The success of the event was attributed to the support of various communities and companies in the Bitcoin space. The organizers expressed gratitude to all participants and hoped that the event would inspire other communities worldwide. They also shared the event’s photos and videos under a Creative Commons license for media and the ecosystem to use in illustrating their content.

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Over 1,000 human trafficking victims were recently rescued from a “fraud factory” in Mabalacat, a town located nearly 90 kilometers northwest of Manila, Philippines law enforcement has said. Michelle Sabino from the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group said trafficking victims use social media platforms such as Facebook to lure unsuspecting individuals.

Cryptocurrency Scams

According to Philippines law enforcement, over 1,000 human trafficking victims were rescued following a recent raid on a compound in Mabalacat, approximately 90 kilometers northwest of the capital, Manila. According to officials, many of the trafficking victims came from Vietnam, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Taiwan.

As per a VOA report, the trafficking victims were forced to perpetrate cryptocurrency scams during shifts that lasted up to 18 hours per day. Michelle Sabino, a member of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, is quoted in the report explaining how the trafficking victims used social media platforms such as Facebook to lure unsuspecting individuals. The victims themselves were reportedly lured by the promise of employment.

“They were lured by social media posts promising good-paying jobs only to get trapped in these compounds that had armed guards to keep them from leaving,” Sabino explained.

The Indonesian Tip-Off

The Philippines law enforcement’s raid on the compound in Mabalacat on May 4 and 5 came after it reportedly received a tip from Indonesian officials who were inundated with pleas from trafficking victims’ families. According to the report, most of the trafficking victims are university-educated individuals with social media skills. The Global Anti-Scam Organization said the so-called online “fraud factories” are known to prefer employing English and Chinese-speaking individuals.

Meanwhile, the report also noted that while the fraud factories in the Philippines were generally thought to be located in remote areas, a recent hearing in the country’s legislature revealed that criminals are also setting them up in urban areas. While trafficking victims are sometimes given the opportunity to buy themselves out, many remain trapped because their families cannot afford the demanded fees.

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwe award-winning journalist, author and writer. He has written extensively about the economic troubles of some African countries as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.