Good morning, readers!
In Georgia, a Tbilisi court froze the bank accounts of seven major Georgian NGOs, accusing them of “sabotage” and “financing” protests under charges made possible by the country’s recently enacted foreign agent law. The move, seen as linked to the repressive Georgian Dream party’s clampdown on dissent, further hampers civil society by cutting off access to funds and limiting organizations’ ability to operate.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira, has reportedly gone offline just four years after launch. According to a new investigation by the Foundation of Investigative Journalism (FIJ) in Nigeria, the official wallet app is no longer available on mobile phones, registration processes appear broken, and the eNaira website shows repeated errors.
In freedom tech news, Damus, a client for the decentralized nostr protocol, is now available on Android. This makes this tool for uncensorable communications and donations more widely accessible to human rights defenders and individuals using Android.
We end with an interview between journalist Frank Corva and Rwandan activist Anaïse Kanimba, who reflects on her family’s fight for freedom after her father Paul Rusesabagina’s abduction and explains how Bitcoin has become both a practical tool and a symbol of resilience for those resisting authoritarian regimes in Africa.
Now, let’s get into it.
Global News
Georgia | Freezes Bank Accounts of Seven NGOs
A Tbilisi City court froze the bank accounts of seven prominent Georgian NGOs, accusing them of “financing” protests as part of a “sabotage” case. The persecution is widely seen as linked to the repressive Georgian Dream party, which increasingly stifles critical voices, media, and independent civil society. Among the NGOs affected are the Civil Society Foundation, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, and Defenders of Democracy. The charges against these civil society organizations reflect the language used in Georgia’s foreign agent law. The law requires NGOs receiving international support to register with the state as “foreign agents” and disclose extensive financial reporting. This puts NGO bank accounts under state surveillance and limits their ability to operate freely, as seen in this case. Earlier this year, the authoritarian-leaning Georgian Dream party froze the bank accounts of five other nonprofit organizations providing financial and legal support to dissenters.
Nigeria | eNaira CBDC Goes Offline
A report from the Foundation of Investigative Journalism (FIJ), a not-for-profit Nigerian investigative journalism organization, suggests that Nigeria’s CBDC, the eNaira, has gone offline just four years after its launch. FIJ reports that the official wallet app is no longer available for mobile phones, registration processes appear broken on the web version, and the official eNaira website shows a repeated 404 error. While the Central Bank of Nigeria has admitted that public adoption is far lower than expected, it has not addressed the recent claims of inaccessibility. If true, the eNaira’s continued struggles show the potential limits of authoritarian CBDC ambitions and reinforce why many Nigerians continue to turn to Bitcoin’s permissionless and censorship-resistant payment rails.
Cuba | Pension Increase Evaporates Under Currency Debasement
North Korea | Inflation Driving Food Out of Reach
North Korea’s totalitarian regime is struggling with a severe currency crisis that has pushed the cost of everyday food to unprecedented levels. The won has plummeted from 8,000 per US dollar after the pandemic to over 40,000 in August on the parallel market. Rice prices have risen from 4,000 to 20,000 won per kilogram, and corn from 2,000 to 6,000 won. The surge makes basic staples nearly impossible to afford for North Koreans earning stagnant wages and saving in the won currency. Domestic pressures are a primary cause: massive military spending and currency debasement have drained resources and destabilized the currency. The regime is also closing and merging foreign currency exchange centers in a bid to reduce citizen access to alternatives and contain the won’s collapse.
Venezuela | Non-Digital “Digital” Bolívar Reveals Monetary Dysfunction
Venezuelans are caught between authoritarian financial repression and the collapse of the bolívar currency. Since October of last year, the bolívar has lost more than 70% of its value. Annual inflation topped 229% in May, and necessities are increasingly unaffordable. To mask the crisis, the regime introduced a so-called “digital bolívar.” But it is not digital; it’s just another devalued banknote that the Maduro regime removed six zeros from. This cosmetic fix makes counting zeros easier but does nothing to restore the bolívar’s value. “Something is clearly broken if a central bank has launched a non-digital, digital currency denominated at 1/1,000,000th of its previously hyperinflated currency that was already on its second devaluation,” Nick Anthony, HRF’s CBDC Tracker Fellow said. Recent reports indicate more Venezuelans are turning to Bitcoin and stablecoins in response to this severe currency depreciation.
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The African Bitcoin Revolution: Anaïse Kanimba, From “Hotel Rwanda” to Bitcoin
In this interview, journalist Frank Corva speaks with Rwandan activist Anaïse Kanimba, the daughter of Paul Rusesabagina, who saved 1,268 lives at his hotel during the Rwandan genocide and was later kidnapped and imprisoned for his efforts. Kanimba shares why Bitcoin matters for the financial freedom of refugees, democracy movements, and African communities. She also discusses the mission of the newly founded African Bitcoin Institute to educate and uplift the continent with open financial tools. Watch it here.
Bitcoin and Freedom Tech News
Damus | Launches on Android
Damus, a client for the decentralized nostr protocol supported in part by HRF, announced that it launched on Android. Nostr clients are applications that let users publish, connect, and exchange information on nostr without relying on centralized servers or intermediaries. Damus’s launch on Android expands the accessibility of the client and nostr more broadly to roughly 3.5 billion Android users. It joins a list of other nostr clients on Android, providing journalists and human rights defenders in adverse political environments with yet another tool for uncensorable communications, donations, and sovereignty over their online data and identity. Try it out here.
Cashu | Merges Support for BOLT 12
Cashu, an open-source ecash protocol, officially merged NUT-25, bringing BOLT 12 Lightning payments into the ecash ecosystem. BOLT12 is an upgrade to the Lightning Network that allows users to generate a single reusable QR code for payments, enabling recurring donations or merchant payments without needing new invoices each time. It also enhances privacy and censorship resistance by reducing metadata exposure in Lightning transactions. The integration enables the creation and redemption of ecash tokens using the BOLT 12 payment method. As more ecash implementations and wallets adopt BOLT12, users will gain greater privacy and usability, benefiting activists and nonprofits under dictatorships.
Papa Swap | New Submarine Swap Protocol
Bitcoin open-source developer Super Testnet announced a new protocol called Papa Swap. It is designed to improve the efficiency of submarine swaps, a mechanism for moving Bitcoin between Layer 1 and other application layers. Traditional submarine swaps require two on-chain transactions before the user fully controls the money. According to Super Testnet, “Papa Swaps reduce this to one Layer 1 transaction.” This would lower the fees and amount of blockspace used by submarine swaps while also speeding up the transaction. For activists and journalists, that efficiency could translate into cheaper, more discreet ways to move between Bitcoin layers, reducing their exposure to authoritarians and making payments more accessible in hostile environments. Super Testnet will showcase Papa Swap at the bitcoin++ Scaling Edition developer conference. He joins a lineup of leading Bitcoin developers exploring and discussing how the network can scale further. Learn more here.
Payjoin | Prepares for 1.0 Milestone
The privacy-preserving Bitcoin protocol Payjoin is preparing for its long-awaited 1.0 milestone, which will bring Payjoin v2 into real-world use. Unlike the first version, Payjoin v2 removes the need for both sender and receiver to be online simultaneously and for the receiver to run a server. Once live, the upgrade will make Payjoin easier to use and more robust, offering nonprofits, activists, and everyday users stronger protection against financial surveillance. If Payjoin reaches even moderate adoption, it will render the common-input-ownership heuristic (assuming all inputs to a Bitcoin transaction belong to the same person) unreliable for dictators’ surveillance of Bitcoin payments. This effect extends beyond direct users: Payjoin improves privacy for the entire Bitcoin network, even for those who never use it.
Bitcoin Indonesia Conference | Returns to Bali
The Bitcoin Indonesia Conference is returning to Bali on Sept. 5, as the main event of Bitcoin Week Bali, a 10-day celebration of grassroots adoption and financial freedom. Organized by Bitcoin Indonesia, an HRF grantee with 36+ active meetups across the country, the conference will host hundreds of participants for talks, workshops, cultural activities, and a Bitcoin marketplace supporting local innovators. Speakers include HRF’s Chief Strategy Officer Alex Gladstein, Ego Death Capital founder Jeff Booth, Palestinian anti-corruption activist Fadi Elsalameen, Venezuelan democracy advocate Leopoldo López, and more. Ticket and event details are available here.
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Jonas Nick on DahLIAS Interactive Aggregate Signatures
In this episode of the Brink podcast, Bitcoin researcher and developer Jonas Nick discusses DahLIAS, the first protocol built to enable cross-input signature aggregation (CISA) on Bitcoin. CISA is a proposed Bitcoin update that lets multiple inputs in a transaction share one signature, which improves privacy (by obscuring input ownership) and reduces transaction fees. Today, privacy-preserving Bitcoin transactions often have higher costs and can expose dissident activity to surveillance by dictators. CISA could shift the incentive structure so that bitcoin users don’t need to justify their transactions as privacy-driven, making achieving privacy safer and more accessible for dissidents. This dual effect makes it harder for dictators to link activity on the blockchain while scaling Bitcoin for more users. Watch the episode here. And to learn more about CISA, read HRF’s CISA report written by HRF fellow Fabian Jahr.
