By Brett Munster
Bitcoin empowers democracy activists worldwide
On October 10, 2025, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her unwavering pursuit of democracy and human rights. Her courage in confronting dictatorship—despite threats, assassination attempts, and relentless political persecution—is extraordinary. Yet what makes her story even more compelling is how her activism has become deeply intertwined with bitcoin, which she has embraced as a powerful tool for freedom.
For years, Venezuela’s economic collapse has left citizens with almost no safe financial options. The bolivar, once the country’s proud national currency, has been decimated by hyperinflation and government mismanagement, rendering it nearly worthless. In Venezuela, traditional banking systems are not just unreliable—they are weaponized. Political opponents like Machado find their accounts frozen, transfers blocked, and donations seized. Bitcoin, however, offers a way around this. It allows activists to receive and store funds without government interference. As Machado has said, bitcoin became a “vital means of resistance,” enabling her team to pay staff, sustain operations, and continue campaigning even under severe financial repression. For many citizens in Venezuela, bitcoin is not a speculative bet—it is a lifeline.
This phenomenon extends far beyond Venezuela. Across the globe, authoritarian governments and failing fiat currencies have created similar conditions where financial control becomes a tool of political power. According to the Human Rights Foundation’s Alex Gladstein, 87% of the world’s population lives under regimes that are either authoritarian or suffering from serious currency instability. His most recent article “Why Bitcoin is Freedom Money” in the Journal of Democracy outlines how nation states increasingly use the banking system to surveil citizens, freeze accounts, and cut off funding for civil society. In these environments, bitcoin has become a vital instrument of financial sovereignty, enabling democracy advocates to operate beyond the reach of oppressive regimes.
Gladstein highlights several examples of democracy activists around the world who are increasingly turning to bitcoin as a way to overcome financial censorship. In Russia, members of Alexei Navalny’s opposition network have seen their accounts repeatedly frozen. Activists like Ruslan Shaveddinov and his colleagues at Team Navalny experienced firsthand how easily bank access can be switched off under political pressure. In response to financial repression and strict capital controls, many Russian citizens have increasingly turned to bitcoin as a way to preserve their wealth and bypass restrictions on international transactions.
In Egypt, authoritarian financial manipulation has undermined citizens’ savings for years. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government has repeatedly devalued the Egyptian pound, which has lost more than 85% of its purchasing power against the U.S. dollar in the past decade, while simultaneously receiving billions in international aid. Democracy activists and ordinary Egyptians have turned to bitcoin to preserve value and maintain operational independence amid this instability.
In Afghanistan, traditional banking and digital payment systems have often failed women and human-rights activists. Roya Mahboob, a tech entrepreneur, faced challenges paying female employees because cash is seized by male family members, and services like PayPal were unavailable. She turned to bitcoin to ensure her employees could receive and control their own funds, which later enabled some to escape abroad or fund education. Today, she continues to use bitcoin to support underground education for Afghan girls, demonstrating that digital currency can bypass oppressive systems and provide secure, independent financial access where the dollar cannot.
Cuba presents another vivid example. Its hyperinflated peso and restrictive currency system make it nearly impossible for citizens to access foreign funds. The state-run Moneda Libremente Convertible (MLC) forces Cubans to rely on remittances to purchase basic goods, while wages in pesos collapse. Many Cubans have turned to bitcoin, which preserves value and enables secure transactions. Underground schools now teach citizens how to use bitcoin safely, empowering them to save, spend, and educate merchants despite the failing peso system.
Turkey offers another illustration. There, activist groups face intense scrutiny, with banks often flagging or seizing donations from abroad. By using bitcoin wallets instead of bank accounts, these organizations can receive international support securely, bypassing bureaucratic and political roadblocks. Funds arrive instantly, without needing to pass through intermediaries that might expose recipients to retaliation.
The list of countries where bitcoin enables financial freedom is extensive. In Belarus, the Lukashenka regime has systematically debanked independent media and opposition figures. In Hong Kong, pro-democracy organizations frequently face frozen bank accounts. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has targeted opposition parties, environmentalists, Amnesty International, and anti-slavery campaigners with debanking measures. In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega’s regime has even debanked churches and universities to consolidate authoritarian control. And in Nigeria, the government froze fintech accounts used by the Feminist Coalition during the 2021 protests to block access to funding. In all these situations, bitcoin offers what traditional finance cannot: a censorship-resistant, non-confiscatable means to sustain and empower democratic resistance.
Globally, nearly six billion people live in countries where access to money is restricted, surveilled, or manipulated by the state. For these individuals and organizations, the U.S. dollar and traditional banking infrastructure offer little protection. Bitcoin, by contrast, enables secure, independent, and borderless financial operations. It lets activists preserve value, raise funds, and pay staff without needing permission from governments or financial intermediaries.
Importantly, this form of demand for bitcoin differs from speculative trading. It is structural, driven by necessity rather than market sentiment. As authoritarianism and inflation persist across emerging markets, bitcoin adoption continues to expand—not as an investment trend, but as a survival mechanism. Seventeen of the twenty countries with the highest crypto adoption are emerging economies, where bitcoin’s role as a censorship-resistant, portable asset meets an urgent need for economic autonomy.
María Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize highlights a profound global truth: for billions of people, bitcoin is more than an investment—it is freedom money. For those of us in the West, where financial systems are stable, it’s important to remember that bitcoin’s global demand grows not from speculation, but from necessity, utility, and practical adoption. That demand, combined with bitcoin’s fixed supply, creates a rare and fundamentally different value proposition—one no other asset can offer. For those living under oppressive regimes or facing collapsing currencies, bitcoin is not speculation—it is self-preservation. Its fundamental utility underpins long-term value: as more individuals and organizations rely on bitcoin to safeguard financial autonomy, it cements its role as a secure, censorship-resistant asset that no traditional system can replicate.
Eventually, they all bend the knee
Throughout its history, bitcoin has been dismissed as a passing fad, a speculative bubble, or even an outright fraud by some of the world’s most powerful financial institutions. Yet time and again, those same institutions inevitably change course—moving from skepticism to full-fledged participation in the crypto economy. From CEOs and asset managers who once scorned digital assets, to payment and remittance networks that dismissed blockchain as irrelevant, the advantages, cost savings, and inherent characteristics of crypto ultimately lead to everyone adopting it—even its harshest critics.
Consider the case of Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, who has long been one of bitcoin’s most vocal critics. Over the years, he called it a “hyped up fraud,” “worthless,” “a decentralized Ponzi scheme,” and “worse than tulip bulbs.” During a Senate hearing, he declared: “I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etcetera … If I was the government, I’d close it down.”
Yet today, Dimon has dramatically shifted course. In a recent interview, he praised bitcoin and crypto saying that “crypto is real” and “it will be used by all of us.” At JPMorgan’s Investor Day, he announced that clients could buy bitcoin through the bank’s accounts—a major policy reversal. JPMorgan went further, offering loans secured by bitcoin and Ethereum, allowing clients to borrow fiat without selling their crypto holdings. The bank also partnered with Coinbase to enable Chase customers to link their accounts directly to Coinbase wallets, created its own token (JPM Coin) for interbank settlements, and facilitates tokenization of traditional financial instruments. As a result, JPMorgan clients increased their spot ETF holdings 64% in Q3. This is not crypto as an experiment—it is crypto as infrastructure, integrated deeply into JPMorgan’s core banking and settlement systems.
The story is repeated across other major institutions. Vanguard Group, for instance, under then-CEO Tim Buckley, repeatedly declared that bitcoin had no place in long-term portfolios and that the firm would never offer a spot bitcoin ETF. Buckley stated as recently as August 2024 that bitcoin “has failed,” reaffirming the firm’s refusal to allow crypto-based ETFs. Yet a year later, Vanguard is now reportedly considering allowing brokerage clients access to third-party crypto ETFs—a clear pivot from outright rejection to cautious adoption.
Similarly, Western Union, long skeptical of digital assets, has moved from dismissal to leadership in crypto adoption. Its former CIO remarked that bitcoin “doesn’t offer anything of value,” and the CEO questioned whether stablecoins could even be spent in practical settings. Today, over 50% of digital principal sent through Western Union comes via crypto wallet or account-based payouts. The company plans to launch its own stablecoin, USDPT, on the Solana blockchain in 2026—a transformation from skeptic to participant.
Global payments network Visa illustrates the same evolution. In 2018, then-CEO Alfred Kelly stated that Visa would “only process fiat currency-based transactions” and dismissed bitcoin as a speculative bubble. Fast forward to today, and Visa supports multiple stablecoins across multiple blockchains, embeds stablecoin settlement directly into its payment rails, and enables banks to issue and burn stablecoins through its infrastructure. Once cautious, Visa now sees crypto as a tool for operational efficiency and future growth.
These examples are more than isolated anecdotes—they represent a profound structural shift in finance. Institutions that once dismissed digital assets are now integrating crypto into core operations, client offerings, and settlement infrastructure. From lending to tokenization, stablecoins to custodial services, crypto is becoming part of the backbone of modern finance. Digital assets are not merely a parallel financial system but a disruptive force that is absorbing traditional finance functions and redefining what it means to manage and move money in the 21st century.
This transformation is evident across the financial landscape. What began as a fringe technology, dismissed by industry titans as a novelty or a worthless, has evolved into a critical layer of global finance. Each institutional pivot—from JPMorgan to Visa, from Vanguard to Western Union—represents another step in the mainstream adoption of digital assets. The trajectory is clear: skepticism gives way to participation, and participation to reliance. The institutions that once resisted it now build on it, embedding crypto deeper into their operations and driving greater demand for the infrastructure that supports the digital economy.
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Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. The content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments in this or in any other jurisdiction in which such solicitation or offer would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. All Content is information of a general nature and does not address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of Blockforce Capital.
Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. The content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments in this or in any other jurisdiction in which such solicitation or offer would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. All Content is information of a general nature and does not address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of Blockforce Capital or Onramp Invest.
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