Cont’d notes ~ Conclusion pt. 1 “Bitcoin is the Most Important Human Rights Technology of the 21st Century” Alex Gladstein (Human Rights Foundation) < Bitcoin can go where traditional money can’t > The invention of Bitcoin can be thought of as a parallel to encrypted messaging. In 2010, few human rights activists used encrypted messaging. The tools didn’t exist in the form they do today. 10 years later, in 2020, everybody’s using encrypted messaging. The same thing will happen with Bitcoin from 2020 to 2030. By 2030, it will be the standard currency of human rights activism. This is something that we (in America) are insulated from. A lot of us (13%) come from glowing places, but money is a broken system for most people (87%). Examples of Bitcoin use cases 一 Russia (frozen bank accounts) 一 Ukraine (war refugees bring Bitcoin on an USB) 一 Nigeria (frozen FinTech fundraising apps) 一 Belarus (people used to sew cash into their clothes to go over the border) 一 Venezuela 一 Hong Kong 一 Iran (Mahsa Amini protesters) 一 Afghanistan (Bitcoin is used to fund underground education for girls, which the Taliban has made illegal, beyond Year 6, primary school.) “Education is a key driver of financial stability for families. Lack of access to education perpetuates generational poverty.” (devpolicy.org) 一 North Korea (70% of people who escape are women. They are often pulled into trafficking schemes, and need to be individually rescued. It's very hard to use USD to do this work.) 一 Nicaragua 一 Palestine Conclusion pt. 2 < *Bitcoin* is freedom money, ‘crypto’ is not > “Crypto” in the form of “Stablecoins” can be useful (esp. If you live in Lebanon or Nigeria where you need U.S. dollars). However, stablecoins can still be censored, “rugged” and go to zero, and they can be sanctioned. In fact, stablecoins are growing the role of the State. The systems and rules of stablecoin tokens are controlled by a handful of people. They cannot actually give people free speech and property rights. They do not provide real individual sovereignty. “Crypto” is not a helpful term, because there are so many cryptocurrencies now. Be specific in the type you want to talk about.