Thank you @nat brunell ❤️‍🔥⚡️ for inviting me and helping us to raise awareness about the need to defend #PoW from over-regulation in the #EU. View quoted note →

🗣Guys, please follow @Daniel Batten 's, @Erik Hersman , @B example. We need your testimonials about the importance of #PoW! 🔍Why: 📌To provide the @ESMAComms with the most up-to-date evidence that should be reflected in the ESMA's draft report to the @EU_Commission in June 2024 on sustainability indicators. 📌To provide the 27 representatives of the #US authorities, whom we met, with our position/responses on PoW and the use of #Bitcoin for human rights & humanitarian aid. 📌Price fluctuations always triggets misinformation about Bitcoin & PoW. Example of our submission to the #ESMA for defence of PoW:

Open Dialogue Foundation

Defend PoW: Submission to ESMA - Open Dialogue Foundation

The Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) welcomes the opportunity to participate in this consultation of the European Securities and Markets Authority (E...

Reach out to me to include your testimonials. ☺️If you want to SUPPORT our advocacy work in the EU and US, click here:

Geyser | Bitcoin Crowdfunding Platform

A Bitcoin crowdfunding platform where creators raise funds for causes, sell products, manage campaigns, and engage with their community.

or donate LN Bitcoin: 🫡 defendpow@geyser.fund 🫂 donate@bps.odfoundation.eu

Two years ago financial system of Ukraine and democracies were paralyzed due to the Russian full invasion to Ukraine. Fundraising campaigns of pro-Ukrainian volunteers on GoFundMe, Partonate and other platforms, financial providers, banks were frozen or terminated with no justification. Lately we learned that our causes were associated with “risk/emergency activities” according to #FAFT recommendations. How we were able to deliver anyway humanitarian aid and especially hundreds pieces of protective equipment for our families and friends, journalists to #Kyiv and #Lwiw on the second day of the war? Thanks to the speed of #bitcoin. While the world was thinking should they act or wait we were getting support from bitcoin community/our families from abroad via bitcoin transactions. Today Ukrainians using bitcoin too, especially at the temporary occupied or under risk of occupation places. There is no other payment instruments. You can’t use also cash - it is dangerous to have Ukrainian currency with you at such places. I am forever grateful for that help and support 🫶🙏

Activists don’t have much options left to crowdfund/fundraise for their activities. It is all started from FATF recommendations, perceived NGOs as risk actors. Financial institutions one by one exclude us. So when I see such political case and at the same time tech developers who expect ed to raise funds for legal defense from one of the most regulated platforms, I wonder, how at the earth those guys were expecting to fundraise at #GoFundMe? This is the most discriminating/privileged platform only. If you want to feel financial exclusion as result of over-regulation implemented AML/CFT rules, then you go there. But definitely not to fundraise. One of the reasons why we teach other activists to fundraise with #bitcoin because they were financially excluded from this and other platforms.

Cointelegraph

GoFundMe shuts down Tornado Cash legal defense crowdfunding

The crowdfunding for the Tornado Cash legal battle was canceled by GoFundMe, citing a breach of terms of service.

Very good move and congratulations to Riot Blockchain for gathering coalition to file a lawsuit against discriminatory EIA survey! Good, that in the US there is strong #bitcoin community, defending #PoW #freedomtech. I wish to have such partnership in the EU… It is a clear example of difference between democracies and authoritarian states: you can fight back in democracy using institutions/separation of the powers. While in authoritarian states institutions work only against you/all power is gathered by the small group of people and weaponized against dissent. View quoted note →

For this report we are in process of collecting testimonies both from bitcoiners and financially excluded activists, victims of weaponization of banking data. We should do it before the end of March and conduct 2 advocacy missions bringing activists and bitcoiners to Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. If you want to be a part of testimonies DM me. Example of testimonies:

Open Dialogue Foundation

Submission to FATF: Tools to prevent abuse of AML/CFT laws - Open Dialogue Foundation

Germany, as one of the founding members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), creates standards for global financial policy to comply with ant...

LN to donate in #Bitcoin and support our advocacy work in the EU and US: 🫡 defendpow@geyser.fund 🫂 donate@bps.odfoundation.eu View quoted note →

Another one example of our work - is to initiate a study for parliamentarians of 46 member states of the Council of Europe about “Tools to prevent and address transnational repression”, which has the scope: “Human rights defenders reported that even European financial institutions generally take such steps automatically as part of their compliance and risk mitigation policies, without providing any remedies. Similar concerns were raised by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin: 69 % of relevant Human Rights Committee recommendations focused on the abuse of counter-terrorism surveillance practices against civil society. As recalled in a relevant motion for a resolution (Doc. 15697), faced with this form of transnational repression, rights activists and opposition members have resorted to raising and storing funds in crypto-assets, such as bitcoin and stablecoins, whose role, also as a humanitarian aid delivery and emergency response tool, should be reflected in relevant regulations.” https://pace.coe.int/en/files/33081/html Report about transnational repression can be found here and also exposed abuses of AML/CFT laws by dictators: https://pace.coe.int/en/files/32999/html

For those who don’t believe that we can actually do change the language of regulations in democracies, I want to show some examples (proof-of-work) of our BTC Coalition in education of policymakers. One of the recommendations to 57 members states to reflect at the relevant regulations use of #bitcoin for human rights and humanitarian aid. Link is here: https://www.oscepa.org/en/documents/annual-sessions/2023-vancouver/declaration-29/4744-vancouver-declaration-eng/file

Every time I read the #ECB report on the “lack of value of #bitcoin”, I wonder what kind of delusional experts write it at the expense of #EU taxpayers' money? I don’t want to pay for such low level of expertise. For the privileged guys, when you can choose any bank, bitcoin is useless, but for us - financially excluded and oppressed people in most countries of the world - bitcoin is the only payment and fundraising tool. Let’s come together to @EU_Commission and @Europarl_EN to educate policymakers about the reality of financially excluded people and what role bitcoin as a #freedomtech tool plays to resist weaponization of banking data by the oppressive regimes.

Do you like flowers and unstoppable #spring as I do ☺️🫶?

Happy to see you guys in #Madeira! 🫶⚡️

Back in 2018 Open Dialogue Foundation, my family, our volunteers, lawyers and accountants were under attack of three authoritarian regimes: #Kazakhstan, #Poland (Law and Justice ruling party at that time) and #Moldova (oligarch #VladPlahotniuc regime) which weaponized our banking data in the very heart of the #EU. How we resisted during that time? Thanks to #bitcoin . Same experience has happened with many other activists and their families, associates from around the world - we brought these testimonies to the EU and US regulators:

Open Dialogue Foundation

Submission to FinCEN: US Digital Asset AML Act - Open Dialogue Foundation

How proposed US crypto-asset ban would support banking sector’s monopoly and harm civil society through financial exclusion 1. Key notes The ...

We testified in front of 27 representatives of US regulators that for us bitcoin it is a #freedomtech tool, that is why we believe that it is important to educate regulators in democracies and protect p2p bitcoin transactions/privacy payment mechanisms and PoW. We have testified that it has cost activists the risk of kidnapping in EU countries, surviving torture, years of imprisonment or even political murder as a result of abuse of AML/CFT laws and #FATF compliance both domestically in authoritarian states and abroad where any dictator can easily obtain your banking data. Join us to defend bitcoin and our financial freedoms! LN to donate in bitcoin and support our advocacy work in the EU and US: 🫡 defendpow@geyser.fund 🫂 donate@bps.odfoundation.eu Thank you @ODELL and @Marty Bent for your support 🙏