Blog Post May 8, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #73 This week, we bring reports from Bangladesh, where the interim government instructed the central bank to halt the printing of old banknotes featuring Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh.
Blog Post May 6, 2025 My Reflections on Bitcoin as Freedom Money in Thailand & Burma My name is Win Ko Ko Aung, and I am a global bitcoin adoption fellow at HRF. I help nonprofits operating under authoritarian regimes explore Bitcoin as a tool for financial freedom.
Blog Post May 2, 2025 Responsible Finance: Why Political Systems Should Matter to Investors International trade and investment reshaped the world for the better. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, economic openness has reduced poverty on a global scale, brought prosperity to nations from Poland to South Korea, and improved quality of life for hundreds of millions.
Blog Post May 1, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #72 This week, we bring pressing news from Belarus, where the regimeтАЩs central bank is preparing to launch its central bank digital currency in close collaboration with Russia by the end of 2026.
Blog Post Apr 24, 2025 HRFтАЩs Weekly Financial Freedom Report #71 In Georgia, mere weeks after freezing the bank accounts of five NGOs supporting pro-democracy movements, the ruling Georgian Dream party passed a new law banning foreign organizations from providing grants to local groups without regime approval.
Blog Post Apr 17, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #70 This weekтАЩs headlines expose the lengths authoritarian regimes go to perpetuate the financial power that preserves their rule, often going so far as to bend, break, and rewrite the rules of money itself.
Blog Post Apr 14, 2025 How China Uses Financial Repression to Erase the Uyghur People Rushan Abbas has spent years fighting for the freedom of her people, the Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic group in the Uyghur Region, located in northwest China.
Blog Post Apr 10, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #69 Today, HRF takes part in the launch of the Bitcoin Humanitarian Alliance in London, where a dozen human rights and aid groups will convene with policymakers, media, finance professionals, and technologists at the Frontline Club to explain how they are using Bitcoin in their work in the field.
Blog Post Apr 2, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom #68 Georgian officials froze the bank accounts of five nonprofit organizations that provide financial and legal support to detained protesters.
Blog Post Mar 28, 2025 тАШItтАЩs a hydraтАЩ What can democracies do about autocratic interference? Josh Rudolph on the challenges of resistance and resiliency.
Blog Post Mar 27, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #67 TurkeyтАЩs currency plunged to a record low after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, one of President Recep Tayyip ErdoganтАЩs main political rivals.
Blog Post Mar 24, 2025 Enigmas What exactly is the problem here? Justin Callais on the ambiguities of corruption.
Blog Post Mar 21, 2025 Organized Crime Why do dictators keep disrupting so many other countries? Miranda Patruci─З on what China and Russia are doing in neighboring nations, developing states, and the worldтАЩs most powerful democracies.
Blog Post Mar 20, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #66 In Thailand, the government announced a third digital cash handout to тАЬstimulate the economy and drive technological adoption.тАЭ
Blog Post Mar 17, 2025 Broad Daylight How common is the corruption of public officials in the U.S.? Ben Freeman on what AmericaтАЩs тАЬauthoritarian friendsтАЭ from the Persian Gulf are doing in Washington, D.C.
Blog Post Mar 13, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #65 In Iran, lawmakers impeached the economy minister, Abdolnaser Hemmati, following the Iranian rialтАЩs rapid collapse, with the currency plunging to 1 million per dollar.
Blog Post Mar 11, 2025 The Playbook: How SyriaтАЩs brutal Assad regime used football to maintain power Welcome to The Playbook, an explainer series from HRFтАЩs Sports & Dictators program that explores the intersection of sports and politics in authoritarian regimes and decodes the disturbing narratives behind the games we love.
Blog Post Mar 6, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #64 In Nicaragua, the regime is increasingly cracking down on civil society, imposing new financial regulations on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that require them to disclose donors and report all financial transactions тАФ further restricting their ability to operate independently.
Blog Post Feb 27, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #63 In Nigeria, financial officials are revising digital asset regulations to impose taxes on digital asset transactions on regulated exchanges.
Blog Post Feb 20, 2025 HRF’s Weekly Financial Freedom Report #62 This week, we honor the loss of the late Alexei Navalny, whose bravery inspired millions of Russians to stand up against Vladimir PutinтАЩs financial, political, and social repression.
