S02E15 Christian Keroles – What Dissidents Know About Bitcoin

About this episode

Christian Keroles discusses the importance of Bitcoin for human rights and its role in providing financial freedom in authoritarian regimes.

“It's not enough for me to be taken care of if everyone else on the planet is living in a digital gulag.” CK explains why HRF treats Bitcoin as essential infrastructure for human rights—and why dictators keep failing to build alternatives that work. Episode Summary One billion people live in democracies with stable currency and property rights. Seven billion don't. Christian Keroles, Director of Financial Freedom at the Human Rights Foundation, argues that Bitcoin flips this equation—giving everyone access to the best property rights and most stable money regardless of where they're born. In this conversation, CK breaks down why authoritarian regimes are the most enthusiastic about CBDCs yet consistently fail to achieve adoption. Why activists from Russia to Myanmar to Venezuela are choosing Bitcoin as their financial infrastructure, and what HRF has learned funding nearly 300 open-source Bitcoin projects. The pattern is clear: governments build intranets while Bitcoin builds the internet of money. And just like email in the 90s, the protocol works—we're just waiting for everyone to get an address. About the Guest Christian Keroles (CK) is Director of Financial Freedom at the…

People in this episode

Host: Shawn Yeager

Guest: Christian Keroles

Topics covered

• Bitcoin
• human rights
• authoritarian regimes
• financial freedom
• CBDCs
• activism

Keywords

• Bitcoin
• human rights
• CBDC
• financial freedom
• activism
• authoritarianism
• digital gulag

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Human Rights Foundation, Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin Conference

Places: Russia, Myanmar, Venezuela

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