Financial Freedom Report #113
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- GLOBAL NEWS
- RECOMMENDED CONTENT
- BITCOIN AND FREEDOM TECH NEWS
- BITCOIN RECOMMENDED CONTENT
Welcome to this week’s Financial Freedom Report.
This edition examines Venezuela’s first official inflation reading in more than a year after the regime halted public reporting and restricted independent estimates. The figure shows prices surged 475% in 2025, the highest rate globally.
In freedom tech news, the Blockstream Jade became the first Bitcoin hardware wallet to integrate the Lightning Network. This allows users to make instant, low-fee payments while keeping most of their bitcoin securely offline, using atomic swaps and the Liquid sidechain to bridge fast payments with cold storage.
We feature a conversation on The reDeFined Podcast with Obi Nwosu, CEO of the Bitcoin ecash app Fedi, where he discusses why financial privacy is essential for dissidents and civil society leaders worldwide.
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GLOBAL NEWS
Venezuela | Central Bank Releases First Inflation Data in Over a Year
After more than a year of silence, Venezuela’s central bank reported that prices increased 475% in 2025. The figure represents a dramatic jump from 48% inflation the previous year and puts into perspective the severe deterioration of the country’s currency. The release follows a period of data obfuscation, when the regime halted inflation reports and restricted independent estimates to mask the scale of the increase. The lack of information maintained the central bank’s distorted exchange rate, as the official dollar exchange rate ended 2025 at 301 bolívares (an 82.7% devaluation), while the parallel market for the dollar surpassed 560 bolívares.
Mozambique | Instant Payment System Launched
Mozambique’s central bank launched a new instant payment system called METIX, a centralized digital payments platform that mirrors many features of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The system connects commercial banks and mobile money services, including M-PESA, E-MOLA, and m-Kesh, into a single network for real-time transfers between individuals. The METIX system allows banks and other institutions to cap daily transfers at 200,000 meticais ($1,130) for individuals and 500,000 meticais ($7,800) for businesses. The regime has also mandated that all commercial banks and financial institutions in Mozambique adopt the new system.
Why this matters: In a country with weak institutions, corruption scandals, and a history of political repression, centralizing payments gives the state a powerful new tool to monitor and control financial activity. Limits on payments can be adjusted or enforced selectively, and access to the system could be restricted for activists, journalists, or opposition groups.
Thailand | Bangkok Bank Walks Back Balance Minimum Limits
Bangkok Bank, one of Thailand’s largest commercial banks, faced online backlash after requiring “e-Savings” customers (those using digital-only accounts) to maintain a minimum balance of 2,000 baht ($55). While the bank retracted the policy, the move would have blocked withdrawals and payments if a customer’s balance fell below the minimum threshold. Many Thai citizens felt that the policy would disproportionately impact lower-income earners, with some noting that even 100 baht can make a meaningful difference for households struggling with rising living costs.
Burma | Military Junta Mandates Phone Registration
Starting April 1, Burma’s military junta will require individuals to register their mobile phones using the IMEI, a unique 15-digit serial number hardcoded in every device. While officials claim the program is to ensure tax compliance on imported handsets, rights groups warn it will help the regime link specific devices to personal identities to track the communications of advocates and dissidents, even when they switch SIM cards.
In context: The new IMEI registration policy builds on laws that criminalize VPN use and allow police to inspect phones on the street.
Asia | States Ration Energy as Fuel Prices Surge
As the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to shipping amid conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States, governments across Asia are rushing to reduce energy use as fuel prices climb and supply issues strain economies reliant on Middle Eastern oil. Bangladesh has limited the supply of fuel and closed universities to save electricity. Pakistan shut schools and shifted services online, while the Philippines adopted a four-day workweek for some government offices. Vietnam and Thailand are promoting remote work, and South Korea has set a fuel price cap for the first time in nearly three decades. As we saw after the outbreak of COVID, authoritarian regimes often exploit macroeconomic crises to expand and cement their control.
RECOMMENDED CONTENT
Can Bitcoin Defeat Dictatorships? With Obi Nwosu
What happens when a government can freeze your bank account, monitor your messages, and imprison you for organizing dissent? In a recent episode of The reDeFined Podcast, Obi Nwosu, CEO of Fedi, argues that the answer might be found in privacy-first Bitcoin tools designed for the world’s most hostile settings. Nwosu discusses how fedimints (the open-source protocol powering Fedi) and ecash (digital cash backed by Bitcoin) enable communities to custody bitcoin funds collectively while communicating through encrypted channels. In places where activists face surveillance and physical safety threats, he contends that privacy can be the strongest form of security.
————————————————————————————————————————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
Blockstream | Jade Adds Lightning Network Support
Blockstream, a Bitcoin infrastructure company, announced that its Jade hardware wallet now supports the Lightning Network, a layer built on top of Bitcoin that enables near-instant, cheap transactions. While hardware wallets are typically used for cold storage (keeping bitcoin disconnected from the internet and safe from online threats), this integration allows users to quickly spend and receive funds by connecting their offline hardware wallet with an app connected to the internet, while keeping their security keys offline. However, the design relies on the Liquid sidechain, meaning users are temporarily holding a federated version of bitcoin, introducing additional trust assumptions that should be understood and tested cautiously.
Why this matters: Traditionally, fast payments required using online wallet apps that are more exposed to security risks. This update would allow users to spend bitcoin instantly while keeping the bulk of their funds protected in a disconnected, physical device. It bridges the gap between high security and daily use.
Proton | HRF Receives Donation for Internet Freedom
We are pleased to announce that HRF will be a beneficiary of the Proton Lifetime Account Charity Fundraiser, organized by the Proton Foundation, the governing nonprofit organization behind the secure email provider Proton Mail. The annual fundraiser supports organizations defending privacy and contributing to digital freedom. For years, HRF — through its Bitcoin Development Fund and Freedom Tech program focusing on both AI and Bitcoin — has worked to combat financial repression and provide human rights advocates with the tools they need to transact freely and protect their digital rights. We are grateful to the Proton Foundation for their support, which we will put towards our work to advance Bitcoin and other freedom technologies as tools for human rights.
Crest | New Private Bitcoin Wallet Built on Citrea
Citrea, a project adding smart contracts (self-executing code) to Bitcoin, has released a new wallet called Crest. Citrea works by moving bitcoin into a separate system as cBTC, a “wrapped” version used in programmable applications. While the project says it reduces the need for trust using advanced cryptography, the system still relies on bridges, signers, and infrastructure outside the main Bitcoin network, which creates more trust assumptions for users. The Crest wallet enables private bitcoin transactions by depositing funds into a shared “privacy pool.” Users can later withdraw their bitcoin without revealing which coins were theirs.
My First Bitcoin | Bitcoin Diploma Now Available in Tagalog
My First Bitcoin, a global Bitcoin education initiative, released its open-source Bitcoin diploma in Tagalog. This expansion gives millions in the Philippines access to a comprehensive Bitcoin resource that covers monetary history, the core properties of Bitcoin, and why Bitcoin works as a tool for financial freedom. Tagalog-speaking activists and civil society can now study this resource in their native language. The curriculum teaches communities how Bitcoin can protect savings, enable permissionless payments, and strengthen financial resilience under repression.
OpenSats | Bitcoin Core Development Grants Announced
OpenSats, a nonprofit supporting open-source development of freedom technologies, announced five grants to strengthen Bitcoin development. The funding will support five Bitcoin Core developers: Janb84, Naiyoma, PurpleKarrot, Kevkevinpal, and Daniela Brozzoni. Each grantee focuses on a specific aspect of Bitcoin Core (the primary software that runs the network), including testing new releases, reviewing code, and improving the Initial Block Download, the process a new computer undergoes to sync with the entire Bitcoin history. Together, these grants make the network more resilient, to the benefit of financial freedom.
BITCOIN RECOMMENDED CONTENT
bitcoin++ “Exploits Edition” Livestream
At the latest Bitcoin++ conference in Florianópolis, Brazil, freedom tech developers gathered for the “Exploits Edition” to examine a critical but often overlooked topic: Bitcoin’s technical vulnerabilities. The event focused on the bugs and security flaws discovered throughout Bitcoin’s history. Speakers and attendees discussed major past incidents, demonstrated how exploits work in practice, and presented new proposals to harden the protocol against future attacks. Watch the full livestream here.
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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. This year’s OFF theme of “Dismantling Dictatorship” celebrates the activists, thinkers, technologists, and artists who take tyranny apart with ingenuity, creativity, and solidarity. Together, we celebrate stories of courage and explore bold ideas to advance freedom and unleash human potential through innovative solutions, including freedom tech.
Buy Tickets
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Highlights (1)
This edition examines Venezuela’s first official inflation reading in more than a year after the regime halted public reporting and restricted independent estimates. The figure shows prices surged 475% in 2025, the highest rate globally.
