Newsletter Feb 26, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #110 In Gabon, officials have imposed an indefinite nationwide social media suspension.
Newsletter Feb 19, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #109 In India, the government is piloting a new system that uses its central bank digital currency (CBDC) to distribute free food rations.
Newsletter Feb 12, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #108 In Kenya, the central bank warned that making Valentine’s Day bouquets out of banknotes could carry prison sentences of up to seven years.
Newsletter Feb 5, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #107 In Russia, physical bank branches are closing down at a record pace. The closures are placing renewed pressure on Russians living in rural areas and those contending with frequent Internet disruptions as a result of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Newsletter Jan 29, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #106 This week, we investigate new developments surrounding China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), as recent design changes show that the Chinese Communist Party is experimenting with new incentives to onboard people to this more tightly controlled kind of money.
Newsletter Jan 22, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #105 In Nigeria, a tax law requires providers of digital assets to monitor transactions, collect personal information, and link payments to biometric national ID systems.
Newsletter Jan 15, 2026 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #104 We begin this week in Iran, where currency collapse has turned into a call for political change.
Newsletter Dec 25, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #103 We begin this week with a stark case of transnational financial repression. Russian dissident and financial director of Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), Anna Chekhovich, reports that her US bank accounts were temporarily shut down after the Kremlin labeled her an “extremist.”
Newsletter Dec 18, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #102 Last week, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, an international recognition of her decades-long efforts for democracy, human dignity, and free elections in Venezuela.
Newsletter Dec 11, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #101 In India, financial officials confirmed that the digital rupee, the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), is now live and complete with spending controls.
Newsletter Nov 27, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #100 One hundred weeks ago, we set out to document how authoritarian regimes manipulate money and employ financial repression to restrict civil liberties, silence dissent, and undermine human rights – and how individuals are resisting with open-source software.
Newsletter Nov 27, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #99 Today, we reflect on the financial repression so many face around the world, and how brave and creative minds are pushing back.
Newsletter Nov 20, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #98 In Indonesia, the government introduced a bill to redenominate the rupiah currency following a sharp decline in purchasing power.
Newsletter Nov 13, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #97 The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has raised alarm over an escalating crisis for press freedom in Pakistan, where local journalists and media workers are being financially targeted.
Newsletter Nov 6, 2025 Financial Freedom Report #96 In Cuba, independent media outlet El Toque is again under pressure for publishing data on the informal exchange rates for the Cuban peso. The tool tracks the growing…
Newsletter Oct 30, 2025 Financial Freedom Report #95 Russia’s Ministry of Finance has proposed granting dictator Vladimir Putin sweeping powers to restrict foreign currency transactions, including limits on individual dollar…
Newsletter Oct 23, 2025 Financial Freedom Report #94 In Venezuela, opposition leader María Corina Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize for her steadfast defense of democracy and freedom. Despite persecution from Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship…
Newsletter Oct 9, 2025 Financial Freedom Report #93 In China, the central bank has opened a new international operations center for the digital yuan in Shanghai to expand the central bank digital currencies’ (CBDCs) role in global finance
Newsletter Sep 25, 2025 Financial Freedom Report #91 In Vietnam, the central bank deactivated more than 86 million bank accounts on Sept. 1, erasing nearly half the country’s financial accounts. The move is part of a national push for mandatory biometric ID, framed by…
Newsletter Sep 18, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #90 In Thailand, the central bank froze more than 3 million Thai bank accounts and imposed daily transfer limits in a bid to reduce online scams. The heavy-handed approach offers a glimpse into how broad state financial measures can unintentionally lead…
