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The Fight for Freedom: Bitcoin and Hong Kong Battle Old World Control

The fight for freedom takes on many forms. Financial, speech, right to choose and right to act.

In 2019, we are all part of a very interesting period in history.

People want freedom. More control over their lives and more trust.

Government and banking are two key factors that regulate people’s freedom.

Depending on where you live, you will need to trust different governments. You trust them to be fair. Manage the currency you work each and every day to earn. As well as the right to certain freedoms being given.

Financial Freedom

Money makes the world go around. Money allows us to travel, eat, have shelter and do business. Money is an ever-important tool in dictating which options are open to all of us.

More options equal more freedom

Bitcoin and blockchain were created to aid in this fight. To ensure people control their own finances. No middle man. No bank. Complete control over money. Money that cannot be inflated or printed. Bitcoin is not stable, but it is getting better.

Hong Kong is undergoing a very special change. 1 country 2 systems. At this moment, there is a divide between ideals. A divide between freedoms. All made possible by powerful governments and money.

Capital restriction is well known in China. Citizens are told how they can spend their money. Even where they can spend it. The government controls the people through banking and law. They have a very distinct system. One that comes at a price. That price is control. The government is in control of the people. In control of finance. In control of the country.

Bitcoin is a system that removes control. There can be no central power. Bitcoin is decentralized. Trust is passed to computing. Exactly the same way we trust our self-driving cars. Handing our lives over to a program, that has been made exactly to drive us safely. We trust in technology every day. Every time we take an elevator. Bitcoin is the same. A technology made with complete security to handle our finances. That we control. With access keys. Again, like a car.

Human error is a problem. We all make mistakes. We can be clumsy or just have a bad day. Bitcoin has no bad days. It doesn’t get sick. It doesn’t need a 2-week break. It never shows up late to work. It’s 24/7, 365 days a year.

Technology is the way forward. In finance and the fight for freedom.

Hong Kong and Bitcoin will both face trials before they get what they want. Many battles lie ahead. People in power do not want to lose it. This applies to those in government. As well as those in finance. The Hong Kong movement and Bitcoin movements threaten the power of an old system. Old methods of doing things. Old systems that are powerful. But not always best when we look back in history.

Image via Shutterstock

Cardano Working With SA Blockchain Alliance to Free African Enterprise from Politically Entrenched Legacy Banking Systems

The Cardano Foundation has partnered with the South African National Blockchain Alliance (SANBA) in a bid to expand blockchain adoption and bring financial inclusion to the country of 59 million.

According to an announcement by the Foundation on April 7, Cardano and SANBA, a fast-tracking blockchain initiative with government support, aim to promote socio-economic growth in South Africa by empowering people and enterprise against legacy financial systems through blockchain technology.

Breaking Ties with Legacy Systems Entrenched in Politics

Cardano highlights the South African market as a potential launching pad to building a distributed network across the country that amalgamates the networks used by government authorities, institutions and enterprises.

Per the release, “Blockchain technology lets developing nations break ties with legacy banking systems, costly middlemen and entrenched political structures.”

Due to the entangled history of African financial infrastructure and its ties to corruption, Cardano cites blockchain technology as a way to guarantee greater transparency and reduce illicit behaviour.

Together SANBA and Cardano aim to build a digital identity infrastructure that will comply with KYC and AML, as well as boost developing economies through digital currencies.

Laying the Foundation For Africa

South Africa appears to be the first step for Cardano on the continent, as the release stated that the Foundation hopes to boost the entire African FinTech ecosystem.

Last year, the Foundation began its expansion efforts in Africa to build blockchain governance with the aim of future-proofing the continents’s sustainable growth and development which it cites as being “in line with its mission to shape legislation and commercial standards.”

Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov Supports Bitcoin as Tool for Human Rights and Financial Autonomy

Chess Grandmaster and rising human rights advocate, Garry Kasparov, sees cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum as a way to fight tyranny and restore liberal democracies.

The world’s most famous chess player, Garry Kasparov is no stranger to technology. In fact, in 1997, a chess match played by then world chess champion Kasparov has been labeled as a catalyst for the big data revolution.

The infamous match would see Kasparov face a unique new kind of opponent who played an unheard of chess strategy and appeared to be on the verge of defeat. However, the game play that appeared unorthodox was in fact the sum of a deep analysis of Kasparov’s own game while calculating variables of every chess strategy ever conceived, which left Kasparov defeated by a move he, or anyone else, ever saw coming. The opponent was IBM’s supercomputer, Deep Blue.

In defeating Kasparov on May 11 1997, Deep Blue made history as the first computer to beat a world champion in a six-game match under standard time controls. Kasparov had won the first game, lost the second and then drawn the following three. When Deep Blue took the match by winning the final game, Kasparov refused to believe it.

20 years on, and Kasparov is now a believer and a huge advocate of inclusive technological innovations, like cryptocurrency, as a means for the advancement of human rights and liberties.

The Upside of Cryptocurrency

In an interview with Forbes on July 23, Kasparov said that while technologies are neither good or bad inherently, he sees many upside to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. He believes they can restore individuals’ financial autonomy, freeing them from the regulation of “states, corporations” and third parties.

Kasparov feels too much attention is paid to the dark side of the cryptosphere, but counters that the use of technology depends on the user. He said:

“You can use nuclear technology to build a bomb or a reactor. Now, we hear a lot about the potential downsides of cryptocurrencies because they can help bad guys rob money. Actually, these fears are overrated.”

On the upside of cryptocurrency, Kasparov says people are looking to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a way to protect their wealth against the inflation born from out of control state money issuance.

He said, “The good thing about bitcoin is that you know exactly the number — the magic number of 21 million. And we understand the formula behind that. But when you look at the other side, the Fed, for instance, you never know how many trillions of dollars will appear on the market tomorrow that will damage your savings.”

Kasparov asserts that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are responses to the invasive infringements on an individual’s monetary freedom and human rights. He said, “I think the steady rise in popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology as a concept is inevitable because it’s a response to the shift of power from individuals to states or other institutions that may act on our privacy without our consent.”

The Central Banks Strike Back

While cryptocurrency and Bitcoin may, in fact, be a response to state-controlled money issuance and the Federal Reserve’s self-serving policies—the central banks, in turn, are responding to the rise of crypto with digital assets of their own—central bank digital currencies (CBDC).

According to Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s Head of Crypto, CBDC could be the most important payment trends in development with the most profound effects on our systems of payment and money issuance according to Visa’s head of cryptocurrency.

The inception of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which were essentially built to potentially destabilize and displace the central source of power for our governments—their control over traditional financial systems and monetary issuance—has been a growing concern to the United States and its dollar which is the world’s reserve currency.

In his tweet on July 4, Sheffield wrote, “I’d argue that central bank digital currency (CBDC) is one of the most important trends for the future of money and payments over the next decade. Regardless of anyone’s personal views of whether it’s good or bad, the reality is that global interest in it is not going away.”

Human Rights Foundation Chief Strategy Officer: Bitcoin Saves Lives, Increases Freedom and Gives Hope

Alex Gladstein, the Chief Strategy Officer of the Human Rights Foundation has blasted a financial correspondent who called Bitcoin the “perfect Ponzi”—explaining that millions of people rely on BTC crypto every day for greater financial access.

Bitcoin has recently surged above the $24,000 level and recorded a new all-time high. Breaking past its resistance level at $24K, Bitcoin managed to reach over $24,200, but has now consolidated slightly. Bitcoin is now trading slightly lower, at $23,833 at press time.

In the past week, the Bitcoin price has surged over 25% prompting one financial correspondent named Felix Salmon to refer to the cryptocurrency once again as nothing more than a speculative asset and a “perfect Ponzi.” Gladstein particular issue responding with a link to a Nigerian article declaring Bitcoin’s role in overtaking Fiat and stating:

“Yet another $/€/£ privileged Western journalist, blind to the fact that millions globally rely on Bitcoin to escape high inflation, extortionate remittances, frozen accounts, sanctions, financial isolation.”

Not won over by the link, Salmon challenged the Human Rights Foundation CSO to provide further empirical evidence that Bitcoin was being leveraged in such ways—a challenge that Gladstein was happy to take on. He tweeted:

“I’ll give you a few now. For starters BYSOL, a grassroots Belarusian human rights org, has moved more than $500k of value peer-to-peer to striking workers inside Belarus, in a way the regime can’t stop. Activists or protestors normally get their bank accounts frozen.”

In what must have been an overwhelming response for Salmon, who seemed to disappear from the conversation as the list, of Bitcoin’s real-world utility and ability to facilitate social and financial freedom grew—Gladstein went on to site how Hong Kong citizens were using Bitcoin to escape excessive financial regulation, and raise funds for peaceful demonstrations, the countless cases of Venezuelans fleeing to other countries transporting their wealth via Bitcoin and how Iranian’s are leveraging Bitcoin for financial inclusion as they are shut off and sanctioned away from the global financial system.

Salmon grew silent as Gladstein gave several more examples of Bitcoin’s importance to certain developing and isolated communities around the world which drew the praise of Morgan Creek Digital Assets founder Anthony Pompliano.

Pompliano voiced his support for Gladstein and his well-supported arguments on Bitcoin’s intrinsic value and utility.

Pompliano linked the discussion thread between Gladstein and Salmon and added his support for the CSO’s argument. He tweeted:

“Bitcoin is the single most important piece of technology that has been created in the last few decades. It is saving lives, increasing freedom, and giving millions of people hope around the world.”