Financial Freedom Report #110
Good morning readers,
In Gabon, officials have imposed an indefinite nationwide social media suspension. The measure comes after the country’s telecommunications agency said it observed “content that undermines human dignity, the country’s institutions, and national security” on digital platforms. Critics, however, have been quick to condemn the restrictions as a crackdown on dissent. Dictators everywhere are increasingly relying on digital tactics to censor and immobilize their opponents.
As these internet restrictions spread, the importance of technologies like Bitchat becomes ever more clear. A new update recently enabled the open-source app to run in the background on phones, enabling users to receive messages even when the app is closed. Other new improvements are planned as well, including device-to-device installs. This means that users could download the app from others, even without access to the internet.
We include an insightful piece from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which covers the launch of Save the Children’s Bitcoin Fund and the inspiration behind it. It’s a testament to Bitcoin’s growing role in the evolving world of philanthropy, crowdfunding, and direct aid, as well as its potential to expand into new areas of civil society.
Now, let’s take a look at this week’s full news.
GLOBAL NEWS
Gabon | Government Suspends Social Media Access Nationwide
Last week, officials in Gabon suspended access to social media platforms indefinitely. To justify the suspension, the country’s telecommunications agency said it observed “content that undermines human dignity, the country’s institutions, and national security” on digital platforms, but independent voices condemned the action as an obvious crackdown on dissent. Users of TikTok and Meta’s platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, reported widespread disruptions beginning Wednesday, Feb. 18, which have widely disrupted people’s ability to communicate. Freedom tech like Bitchat, which provides offline messaging capabilities, and Nostr, a protocol for decentralized, censorship-resistant communication, will continue to play important roles in preserving speech, expression, and communication as authoritarian regimes increasingly restrict internet freedom.
In context: Under the regime of Oligui Nguema, who was elected last year after a military junta appointed him interim president, officials have increasingly restricted independent media. Last year, a journalist and multiple trade unionists were imprisoned for their criticism of the regime.
Lebanon | Tax Hikes After Hyperinflation
Lebanon’s government approved an increase in its value-added tax from 11% to 12% and imposed an additional levy on gasoline to finance an $800 million wage increase for public sector employees. While the decree has yet to be approved by the parliament, the fuel tax alone is expected to ripple across the entire economy, driving up transportation costs and consumer prices. Lebanon closed 2025 with an annual inflation rate of 14.8% and the economy is still trying to recover from a recent hyperinflationary episode where government mismanagement destroyed the average person’s savings.
In context: Lebanon’s financial system froze depositors out of their foreign currency-denominated accounts, predominantly US dollars, during the 2019 banking collapse. The freeze drove the value of the Lebanese pound down by more than 90%. Now the government is once again making ordinary citizens (many of whom still cannot access their own money) pay the price for financial mismanagement.
Russia | Citizens Perceive Higher Than Reported Inflation
Russians are increasingly feeling the strain of rising prices. The costs of groceries, rents, and everyday goods are climbing faster than many people’s wages. In an article for The Moscow Times, one woman described timing her supermarket visits to coincide with evening discount markdowns on expiring meat and dairy products. While official data from Russia’s statistics agency puts 2025 inflation at 5.6%, surveys show that everyday Russians perceive inflation closer to 14.5%. A growing gap between government figures and lived experience is common under authoritarian regimes. Those wanting to explore the full effect of inflation in Russia can visit Prices Today, an inflation tracker built by the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Indonesia | Bitcoin Circular Market in Action
Bitcoin Indonesia, an HRF grantee and Indonesia’s pioneering Bitcoin gathering, organized the “Sats-turday Market” in Bandung from Feb. 6–8, which saw 16 local communities, 10 small businesses, and roughly 400 Indonesians test a functioning Bitcoin circular market. Using Fedi, an app leveraging Bitcoin and ecash technology, participants earned and spent satoshis (the smallest denomination of bitcoin) on goods and services throughout the weekend. The market was an example of Bitcoin’s ability to circulate within a defined local network rather than being converted back to local currency immediately. Grassroots Bitcoin circular economies offer communities a parallel way to transact and save outside fractured monetary and political systems.
In context: The market unfolded during a period of mounting economic and political tensions in Indonesia. Last year, police cracked down on student- and worker-led demonstrations over rising living costs and controversial perks for lawmakers. Thousands of protesters were detained, and multiple people were killed during the crackdown. Indonesia’s rupiah recently hit a record low against the US dollar. Officials are advancing plans to redenominate the currency after decades of inflation, which would only further compound the difficulties Indonesians face.
Kenya | The Citizen Lab Uncovers Technology Used to Spy on Democracy Activist
The Citizen Lab, an academic research group dedicated to investigating digital threats to human rights and global security, recently uncovered technology used to break into the phone of Kenyan pro-democracy activist Boniface Mwangi. The Citizen Lab has said with “high confidence” that Kenyan officials used software made by Cellebrite, an Israel-based firm whose tools have been used to target and surveil civil society groups and activists around the world, to enable “the full extraction of all materials from Mwangi’s device, including messages, private materials, personal files, financial information, passwords, and other sensitive information.” The Citizen Lab’s researchers claimed these findings add to a growing body of evidence that government clients are abusing Cellebrite’s technology, and that “the company is failing to prevent those abuses from happening.”
RECOMMENDED CONTENT
A New Bitcoin Fund Aims to Boost Crypto Gifts to Save the Children by Rasheeda Childress
Save the Children, a global humanitarian organization that supports the individual rights of children, is redefining humanitarian aid and philanthropy through Bitcoin. In this article, they update readers on the inspiration behind its newly launched Bitcoin Fund. The vehicle is unique in that it will hold its bitcoin donations for up to four years or deploy funds directly in crisis zones using the underlying technology. For large humanitarian actors, this is a testament to using Bitcoin as infrastructure for moving and receiving humanitarian aid when banks or currencies fail.
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Financial Freedom Webinar: Bitcoin for Nonprofits
HRF will host a free, three-day webinar from March 23–25 guiding human rights defenders and nonprofits on how to use Bitcoin to resist state censorship and financial repression. Sessions run daily from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EDT and are designed for all experience levels. The training will be co-led by Bitcoin educator Ben Perrin (BTC Sessions) and Anna Chekhovich, financial director at the Anti-Corruption Foundation, who will share practical tools for receiving donations, securing funds, and sustaining activism when bank accounts are frozen or surveilled.
RSVP
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BITCOIN AND FREEDOM TECH NEWS
Mostro | Built-in Lightning Wallet Added
Mostro, an HRF grantee and peer-to-peer app for exchanging bitcoin over Nostr, has added a built-in Lightning wallet. Users can now generate and pay Lightning invoices directly in the app, eliminating the need to switch between separate wallets. For users in restrictive environments, better Lightning integration makes it easier to buy and sell bitcoin without relying on centralized exchanges that require identity verification or bank access. In short, this pushes Mostro closer to becoming a seamless and mobile-first Bitcoin marketplace built entirely on open and permissionless protocols.
Bitchat | Device-to-Device Installs Planned
Bitchat, an offline messaging app that uses Bluetooth mesh networks to transmit messages directly between phones without relying on internet access, has announced plans to introduce device-to-device installs. This would allow users to download and install the app from other users without an internet connection. For people facing internet shutdowns, this feature could preserve access to communication and information. A recent update to the Android version of Bitchat also introduced the ability for the app to run in the background, allowing users to receive messages even when the app is closed.
Why this matters: Bitchat has proven to be an essential piece of communication infrastructure when dictators restrict internet access or disaster strikes. Across Indonesia, Uganda, Nepal, Iran, Côte d’Ivoire, and Madagascar, Bitchat has enabled communication during natural disasters, protests, and crackdowns on dissent.
Hashtree | Decentralized File Share
Martti Malmi, an early Bitcoin developer who worked alongside Satoshi Nakamoto and now contributes to the Nostr protocol, has released a new tool called Hashtree. It allows people to share files between devices or across a network of peers without relying on centralized servers, reducing the risk of takedowns or outages. Files are identified by a unique digital fingerprint called a hash, which helps ensure they haven’t been altered. Links to the latest version of a file are published on Nostr, ensuring content remains accessible even if traditional hosting services go offline.
Why this matters: Hashtree offers a more private and censorship-resistant way to distribute information. This is particularly useful for independent journalists and dissidents operating collaboratively under authoritarian surveillance.
Payjoin Foundation | Transition to 501(c)(3)
The Payjoin Foundation, a nonprofit supporting development of the Payjoin protocol and broader Bitcoin privacy tools, announced that it has received 501(c)(3) status in the United States. The Payjoin protocol is a privacy technique that works by mixing inputs of a bitcoin payment with inputs from the recipient, making it harder for dictators to trace who paid whom. The 501(c)(3) designation allows the foundation to accept tax-deductible donations and strengthen its ability to fund open-source development and long-term privacy infrastructure.
Why this matters: Payjoin’s transition lowers barriers for donors seeking to support work advancing more private bitcoin payments and bitcoin-based crowdfunding, which can better equip civil society worldwide with safer, more resilient ways to transact and support each other.
Bitcoin Policy Institute | Applications for Summer Research Program Opened
The Bitcoin Policy Institute, a US-based Bitcoin research firm, opened applications for its Summer Research Program. This 9-week research opportunity is open to undergraduate students worldwide and provides a chance for students to contribute to research and policy work in peer-to-peer rights, national security strategy, and monetary policy as it relates to Bitcoin. Learn more and apply here.
OpenSats | 15th Round of Nostr Grants Announced
OpenSats, a public nonprofit supporting free and open-source software, announced its latest round of grants for projects related to the decentralized communications protocol Nostr. Notable grantees include Tollgate (also an HRF grantee), which provides open-source software that anyone can install on their WiFi router in order to share internet access discreetly with their neighbors in exchange for bitcoin. Tollgate allows anyone to become an internet service provider (ISP) and use bitcoin to access the internet privately. This is unlike traditional ISPs, which collect personal information from users and monitor internet traffic. Other grantees include ContextVM and Nostube. Learn more about the latest grantees here.
BITCOIN RECOMMENDED CONTENT
Spark Explained Like You’re Five by Roy Sheinfield
In this article for Bitcoin Magazine, Roy Sheinfeld, CEO of Breez, uses non-technical language to explain Spark’s core idea: transferring control of bitcoin without moving it on-chain. He uses clear analogies that help readers build an intuitive mental model of how statechains (the technology that powers Spark) enable faster, off-chain ownership changes while preserving a unilateral exit option. For readers looking to better understand the options for scaling Bitcoin, this piece offers a useful starting point.
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Join Us at the 18th Annual Oslo Freedom Forum
Join HRF this year at the 18th annual Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF), hosted in Oslo, Norway, from June 1–3. OFF is a global gathering of human rights defenders, journalists, artists, technologists, and policymakers sharing their frontline struggles. Together, we celebrate stories of courage and creativity and explore bold ideas to advance freedom and unleash human potential through innovative solutions, including freedom tech.
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