The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has introduced a brand new wave of funding via its Bitcoin Improvement Fund (BDF), distributing 1 billion satoshis — roughly $1.1 million USD — to twenty tasks world wide.
The grants, awarded to builders, educators, and activists spanning Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, purpose to strengthen Bitcoin’s position as a software for human freedom and resistance to monetary repression.
HRF has a mission to empower individuals dwelling below authoritarian regimes via open-source applied sciences that allow personal communication, censorship-resistant finance, and decentralized coordination.
Since launching the Bitcoin Improvement Fund in 2020, HRF has provided greater than $9.6 million in Bitcoin to 319 tasks throughout 62 international locations.
The muse’s strategy merges human rights advocacy with technical growth, supporting builders who’re creating sensible instruments for dissidents, journalists, and bizarre residents in repressive environments.
“Bitcoin is greater than only a financial innovation,” HRF mentioned in an announcement. “It’s a survival mechanism for billions of individuals dwelling with out political or financial freedom.”
This spherical of grants helps tasks advancing every part from core Bitcoin growth and mining decentralization to regional training and monetary autonomy applications. Every displays a chunk of a bigger puzzle: a worldwide freedom know-how ecosystem constructed on Bitcoin’s permissionless infrastructure.
Human Rights Basis Grant Recipients
Nymius: Bitcoin’s clear ledger is crucial to its design, nevertheless it additionally exposes dissidents to surveillance from authoritarian states searching for to observe transactions and networks. Silent Payments allows people to obtain Bitcoin via distinctive, one-time addresses derived from a static public key, however its effectiveness is determined by pockets adoption. Nymius, a Bitcoin Dev Kit (BDK) contributor, will combine Silent Funds into the BDK. With this grant, dozens of wallets and functions constructed with the BDK will have the ability to provide customers higher monetary privateness.
Daniela Brozzoni: Bitcoin nodes (computer systems operating the Bitcoin software program) reveal person metadata when connecting with each other. This opens the door for regimes or hackers to trace or isolate activists and dissidents operating Bitcoin nodes. Daniela Brozzoni is a Bitcoin Core developer who has been researching this vulnerability and publishing mitigation proposals to counter the ways. With this grant, she is going to collect group suggestions and implement fixes to make the community safer.
Construct on Bitcoin (BOB) Buidlers Residency: On daily basis, customers typically discover freedom applied sciences troublesome to make use of, which limits their accessibility and affect. BOB Buidlers Residency in Bangkok has supported three cohorts of free and open-source builders to advance Bitcoin’s privateness, decentralization, and mining. With HRF’s funding, a fourth cohort of 4 builders will enhance usability throughout Bitcoin, Lightning, nostr, and ecash, making freedom tech extra accessible to those that want it most.
2140 Basis (Stichting 2140): Bitcoin builders, particularly these in autocratic international locations, typically battle with burnout, isolation, and an absence of incentives to finish long-term tasks. The 2140 Foundation, based by open-source builders Josie Baker and Ruben Somsen, is a co-working house in Amsterdam that gives mentorship, collaboration, and employment to international contributors advancing Bitcoin’s long-term safety, resilience, and scalability. With HRF funding, the inspiration will assist the work of builders from authoritarian states to strengthen Bitcoin as a human rights software.
Cashu for Neighborhood Sovereignty: In lots of elements of Latin America, governments prohibit monetary flows by blocking funds, freezing accounts, and, at instances, disrupting web entry. Cashu for Neighborhood Sovereignty, based by Forte11, addresses this with ecash, which allows fast and personal funds that even work offline. The initiative will prepare 10 communities in authoritarian environments to deploy Cashu mints and Lightning Community nodes. With this funding, communities going through repression will develop a stronger infrastructure for monetary freedom.
Bhartiya Bitcoin: As India advances a central financial institution digital forex (CBDC) and financially represses political opposition, Bitcoin affords a path to monetary freedom. Nevertheless, training is commonly inaccessible to non-English audio system. Bhartiya Bitcoin produces free, culturally related Bitcoin content material in Hindi, Marwari, Sindhi, and Assamese. With HRF assist, Bhartiya Bitcoin will broaden into Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, and Malayalam to make Bitcoin extra accessible to the greater than 1.4 billion individuals dwelling below more and more autocratic rule in India.
Bitcoin Schooling for Lebanon’s Liberty & Empowerment (BELLE): In Lebanon, a collapsing forex, banking restrictions, and asset confiscations have stripped individuals of economic stability. The Lebanese Institute for Market Studies is launching BELLE, a venture to show political activists and youth to make use of Bitcoin to protect their buying energy. With HRF assist, BELLE will present Arabic-language workshops, instructional movies, and media outreach to strengthen people’ capacity to withstand monetary repression and safe their monetary futures.
Bitcoin Arusha: Tanzania’s authorities restricts using overseas forex and limits dissidents’ banking entry, whereas the native forex depreciates, leaving many voters trapped in a cycle of poverty. To alleviate this, Bitcoin Arusha offers culturally rooted, Swahili-language Bitcoin training in northern Tanzania via music, dance, and occasions. HRF assist will strengthen Bitcoin Arusha’s resilience and empower communities via financial alternatives.
Bitcoin for Equity: Human rights defenders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) typically lack the information to make use of Bitcoin to bypass repressive monetary restrictions. Bitcoin for Fairness (BFF) is an academic initiative that disseminates Bitcoin information to the worldwide majority. In 2026, BFF will focus its initiatives in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Zambia – international locations scarred by forex crises and intervals of one-party rule – and ship workshops, micro-seed funding, mentorship, and educator coaching. With HRF funding, BFF will empower activists and civic organizations in Southern Africa with censorship-resistant, permissionless monetary instruments.
Exile Hub: Burma’s army junta makes use of monetary repression, exile, and imprisonment to crush peaceable resistance. Exile Hub’s Bitcoin for Exiles initiative will pilot a Bitcoin-based monetary autonomy program designed to satisfy the wants of Burma’s democratic motion. With HRF assist, this system will provide coaching, privacy-focused toolkits, and workshops to equip dissidents inside Burma and in exile with the instruments to outlive, arrange, and resist the junta’s monetary repression.
Alberto Gangarossa: In the present day, most Bitcoin mining {hardware} depends on closed-source software program that may expose person information and create dependence on third events. Pluto, constructed by developer Alberto “Derek” Gangarossa, is the primary open-source mining fleet administration platform that provides miners management over their operations with out third-party dependence. With HRF assist, Pluto will empower people in repressive environments to mine Bitcoin privately, independently, and securely, additional decentralizing the Bitcoin community.
WantClue: Bitcoin mining is dominated by industrial operations that use proprietary {hardware} and software program. Over time, this might put Bitcoin’s decentralization and accessibility in danger. Bitaxe counters this development by offering an inexpensive and open-source miner for people. WantClue maintains the Bitaxe firmware and produces instructional content material that makes mining extra accessible to dissidents and people in closed societies. With HRF assist, WantClue will strengthen mining decentralization and broaden entry to self-sovereign monetary infrastructure for these below repression.
Peter Tyonum: Builders in opposed political and financial environments want accessible and safe pockets software program infrastructure to construct freedom instruments. Developer Peter Tyonum contributes to the BDK, which abstracts pockets software program into usable plug-and-play elements and makes it simpler for builders to create censorship-resistant instruments. With this grant, Tyonum will proceed to assist builders worldwide create accessible, permissionless Bitcoin functions.
BitScript: An inclusive developer base is crucial to Bitcoin’s long-term decentralization. BitScript, a free, open-source Bitcoin developer training program, trains builders in authoritarian and inflationary environments throughout Latin America and Africa to construct protocol-level freedom applied sciences. World growth helps be certain that Bitcoin serves as a lifeline for individuals going through repression. HRF’s grant will assist BitScript democratize protocol information to make sure the community displays international wants.
Code Orange Dev Faculty: Many areas lack the technical training to construct, preserve, and use Bitcoin. To handle this, the Code Orange Dev School in Indonesia teaches builders and people throughout Asia to contribute to open-source Bitcoin tasks, run nodes, and use privacy-enhancing instruments like ecash, fedimint, and nostr. HRF’s assist will assist equip communities with instruments to withstand authoritarianism.
Demo Lab: As authoritarian governments in Latin America tighten their grip on monetary and political energy, there may be an pressing want for civic and monetary training. Demo Lab’s Freedom Academy introduces Bitcoin as a software for monetary independence and teaches sensible abilities for saving and transacting securely. By this grant, the Freedom Academy will put together the following era of Latin Individuals to defend democracy and obtain financial sovereignty.
Nostr below Autocracy: In Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro’s brutal dictatorship restricts conventional communication channels, prevents journalists from exposing the regime’s brutality, and financially suppresses civil society. Nostr below Autocracy, led by democracy activist Jesús González, will prepare Venezuelan activists and human rights defenders to make use of the open-source nostr protocol for personal, censorship-resistant communication and funds. With HRF assist, this venture will assist Venezuelan dissidents communicate freely on-line and construct actions to withstand Maduro’s digital and monetary repression.
KernelKind: Dictators prohibit communication, manipulate on-line content material, and prohibit dissidents’ monetary entry to silence dissent. Notedeck is a Nostr browser created by Damus that makes it simpler to construct censorship-resistant apps with built-in Bitcoin funds. Its first app, Columns, introduces modular feeds and a market for user-controlled algorithms, whereas Dmail will allow personal, decentralized messaging with e-mail interoperability. With this grant, Notedeck will proceed to merge censorship-resistant communication with monetary freedom and foster an ecosystem of apps for dissident communications and transactions.
Eric Holguin: Many individuals dwelling below authoritarian regimes face censorship, Web shutdowns, and frozen financial institution accounts that reduce them off from communication and commerce. Nostr developer Eric Holguin is working to construct censorship-resistant apps with built-in Bitcoin funds by contributing to Damus and Nostr tasks that empower people to speak and transact with out centralized management. With this grant, he’ll proceed increasing free speech and monetary freedom instruments for individuals resisting repression worldwide.
Craig Warmke and Troy Cross: As authoritarian regimes broaden monetary surveillance and roll out central financial institution digital currencies (CBDCs), many individuals stay dangerously unaware of their dangers to particular person liberties. Transactional Freedom, a forthcoming e-book co-written by philosophers Craig Warmke and Troy Cross, makes the ethical and authorized case for recognizing a common and constitutional proper to transact. With HRF assist, Warmke and Cross will study monetary repression in authoritarian regimes and its affect on human rights, activism, and monetary freedom.
Collectively, these 20 grantees kind a various coalition of builders, thinkers, and educators working to fortify Bitcoin’s position as a worldwide freedom community. Whereas their strategies fluctuate — from protocol analysis to street-level training — their shared mission is evident: to make sure that monetary and informational freedom stay accessible to everybody, in every single place.
