One of the biggest questions of our time: Can we help fix this?

How wild is it that most people on earth just take for granted that money is political and can be turned on and off at the whims of a politician Imagine the collateral damage here for people just trying to support their families Make no mistake, advancing open neutral money for the world is one of the most important things we can do

This recent letter from the World Bank President to POTUS helps clarify why “development” is a business and why the goal isn’t to help poor countries, but to help ourselves

You really love to see it

2.5 years ago I had never surfed in my life But Costa Rica taught me and helped me understand the beauty of the sport and experience Now you will find me in the water learning more whenever I get a chance Pura Vida 🤙

Pura Vida to all, even this guy! 😂

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We are launching an AI for Individual Rights program at HRF Excited to see how we can apply learnings from working with Bitcoin and open source tools to this field Details and application link for the new director position below 👇 ********************************** The Human Rights Foundation is embarking on a multi-year plan to create a pioneering AI for Individual Rights program to help steer the world’s AI industry and tools away from repression, censorship, and surveillance, and towards individual freedom. HRF is now seeking a Director of AI for Individual Rights to lead this work. Apply today with a cover letter describing why you are a good fit for this role, as well as a resume and names of three individuals you would suggest as references. This initiative comes at a moment where AI tools made by the Chinese Communist Party are some of the best in the world, and are displacing tools made by corporations and associations inside liberal democracies. This also comes at a moment where open-source AI tools have never been more powerful, and the opportunities to use AI tools to strengthen and expand the work that dissidents do inside authoritarian regimes have never had more potential. When citizens are holding their governments accountable, they should use the most advanced technology possible. There are many “AI ethics” working groups, associations, non-profits, industry papers, and centers already extant, but zero have a focus on authoritarian regimes. Many are bought off by the Chinese government, and refuse to criticize the Chinese government’s role in using AI for repression in the Uyghur region, in Tibet, in Hong Kong, and elsewhere. Others are influenced by the Saudi or Russian governments and hold their tongue on too many issues. Others still are very close to the US government and must mind a different set of political alliances. HRF will establish the first fully-sovereign program, liberated to monitor and expose AI being used by autocrats as a tool of repression and also support open-source AI tools in the hands of dissidents, especially those laboring under tyranny. Critically, this program will not be oriented towards preventing “superintelligence” risk or concerned with an AGI becoming catastrophically powerful. While those might be worthy efforts, this program will be entirely focused on tracking and challenging how authoritarian regimes are using AI and helping spark the proliferation of open-source tools that can empower and liberate individuals. https://hrf.org/career/director-of-ai-for-individual-rights/

This whole process has really surprised me, but it’s good news, so excited to share! In the summer of 2023, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) launched a Bitcoin Bounty program aimed at funding software developers to create new tools and features for Bitcoin tailored to the needs of dissidents and human rights advocates challenging authoritarianism worldwide. These bounties ranged from UX improvements to privacy upgrades and open-sourcing closed and permissioned systems. There were 11 bounties in total, each with specific objectives. The deadline was Dec. 31, 2024. We are excited to announce that every single bounty was claimed and that the resulting tools and upgrades are now empowering human rights activists daily across popular apps such as Blue Wallet, Zeus, Stack Wallet, Iris, Coracle, Keeper, Bull Bitcoin, Cake Wallet, and more. This program highlights the impact of collaboration between human rights activists and software developers to create better tools for freedom. HRF is proud to have played a role in this effort and looks forward to continuing similar programs in the future. Special credit goes to the Oslo Freedom Forum, where much of the critical interaction between developers and activists occurred. This wave of bounties was inspired by a successful pilot project in 2021, executed in partnership with Strike and Jack Mallers, which supported developers like Will Cassarin and Calle. Their innovations later gave rise to important advancements such as zaps in Nostr and the Cashu ecash protocol. We learned a lot through this process and look forward to doing similar things in the future. There’s so so much to be gained from mixing political dissidents with developers!

Guess it’s pretty tricky to sell off meme coins if people donate them to you

👀 View quoted note →

Bloomberg doesn’t even bother to post this on its Bluesky feed, they know that’s the place where we must not speak Bitcoin’s name 😂

Really good series on the organic creation of eurodollars i.e. “shadow money” Worth reflecting on how even America’s enemies wanted and even created this system, as well as similarities with stablecoins today (Tether is essentially a $100B Eurodollar bank)

Apple Podcasts

The Hidden History of Eurodollars, Part 1: Cold War Origins

Podcast Episode · Odd Lots · 01/14/2025 · 34m

Real-time censorship on China’s DeepSeek (H/T @pourteaux)

Some really exciting stuff in Optech this week Cypherpunks keep building 🚀

Anyone can enrich their life, their understanding of digital security, and of privacy, by following and engaging with @jsr He has single-handedly gone toe-to-toe with some of the world’s worst spyware baddies and their most powerful backers, and continues to expose and counter their crimes He has also deeply engaged with and challenged Bitcoin and Nostr devs in ways that few are willing or able to do He is constantly helping us improve and make these protocols and tools the best they can be Follow JSR and show him some zap love 🫡 🙏 🤙 View quoted note →

The latest insanity

Can’t say we didn’t know Front page of NYT