Think Bitcoin and crypto assets are just vehicles for speculation? They’re already having both a positive impact and negative impact when it comes to human rights, says Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer for the Human Rights Foundation. Gladstein talks about how he first became enamored with Bitcoin because of its potential to solve hyperinflation, and why he believes Venezuela is the site of the world’s first crypto war. He also covers why repressive governments are excited by centralized cryptocurrencies, why impact investing focused on the UN sustainable goals will not address human rights issues, and why blockchain-based elections, which many believe could be fair and transparent, could instead be terribly corrupt.

https://twitter.com/gladstein https://oslofreedomforum.com/ https://www.hrf.org

Blockstack on Unchained: http://unchainedpodcast.co/blockstack-on-getting-independence-from-google-facebook-and-amazon

Stablecoins and MakerDAO on Unchained: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable

Roya Mahboob on Unchained: http://unchainedpodcast.co/how-bitcoin-solved-this-serial-entrepreneurs-problems

Bitcoin in Venezuela:

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/04/03/why-are-venezuelans-mining-so-much-bitcoin https://www.wired.com/story/where-could-bitcoin-succeed-as-a-currency-in-a-failed-state/ https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2018/04/11/localbitcoins-com-replaces-dolartoday-as-standard-reference/

Data showing that Venezuela, at the time of this recording, accounts for 8.1% of all LocalBitcoins transactions: https://anacoinda.github.io/localbitcoins/all.html

The North Korean government using cryptocurrency:

https://www.vox.com/world/2018/2/28/17055762/north-korea-sanctions-bitcoin-nuclear-weapons https://qz.com/1199400/north-korea-is-suspected-in-the-530-million-coincheck-cryptocurrency-heist/

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