Good morning readers,
We begin this week in Iran, where currency collapse has turned into a call for political change. Across the country, mass protests erupted after the rial reached yet another record low, erasing people’s purchasing power and driving up the cost of living. The regime responded with violence and the arrests of thousands of Iranians, coupled with a nationwide communications blackout, reflecting the tightly intertwined nature of financial collapse, repression, and information control.
In freedom tech news, hundreds of thousands of Ugandans are turning to Bitchat, a peer-to-peer messaging app that works without the internet, as the regime shut down internet services the day before the country’s general elections. The app enables phones to relay messages directly to one another over Bluetooth, helping people stay connected even if the internet is turned off.
HRF and the Finney family awarded the Finney Freedom Prize for the 2016 – 2020 era to Andreas M. Antonopoulos for his foundational work educating millions about Bitcoin and pioneering the story of how the currency strengthens human rights.
We conclude with a perspective piece in the Wall Street Journal by HRF’s founder and CEO, Thor Halvorssen. He argues that replacing Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, with another figure from within the same regime risks preserving the same authoritarian system under a new face and delaying the accountability, reform, and human rights Venezuelans deserve.
Now, let’s dive right in.
Global News
Iran | Protests Against Currency Collapse and Corruption
On Dec. 28, the largest protests since the Women, Life, Freedom movement unfolded across Iran in response to the rial reaching a new record low. The currency, once valued at 32,000 rials per dollar in 2015, crossed 1.42 million per dollar to end 2025, a 98% loss in value over the decade. Prices of basic goods and services have ballooned, with the cost of food rising by 72% over the past year alone. Iran’s largest state-owned bank, Bank Melli, reportedly suspended cash withdrawals following a bank run. As demonstrations spread across all 31 of the country’s provinces, unified crowds chanted for the end of the regime. The theocratic dictatorship responded violently. Security forces fired live ammunition, killing at least 2,000 people and detaining upwards of ten thousand more. To further suppress the protests and obscure its violent crackdown, the regime shut down the Internet and cut telephone lines, severing communications and the flow of information as it escalates violence against demonstrators.
China | Interest Introduced in CBDC to Boost Adoption
China’s central bank revealed that its digital yuan Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will begin to pay users interest in an effort to increase adoption. As of Jan. 1, commercial banks operating digital yuan wallets will pay interest to users based on the amount of digital yuan they hold, providing it with the same legal status as deposits held at banks. However, it remains unclear whether retail CBDC balances held in bank-operated wallets are treated as central bank liabilities or as commercial bank liabilities. The CBDC has failed to gain significant everyday adoption, despite repeated incentive efforts. Nonetheless, Lu Lei, deputy governor of China’s central bank, expressed the bank’s intention to create a “unified global ledger,” centralizing financial activity into a single CBDC system.
In context: CBDCs create a direct financial link between people and government, providing authoritarian regimes with a heightened ability to conduct financial surveillance, restrict financial activity and autonomy, and facilitate corruption.
Syria | Central Bank Removes Two Zeros from the Pound
The Central Bank of Syria announced that the Syrian pound is being redenominated by removing two zeros to “restore financial stability” following the ousting of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in 2024. Years of conflict, financial mismanagement, sanctions, and financial isolation saw the pound lose approximately 99.6% of its value against the dollar since 2011. The removal of two zeroes does little to address the country’s root economic problems, but could simplify cash transactions. However, central bank governor Abdulkader Husrieh shared that “the central bank has been given authority to decide the deadline for the swap and its locations.”
In context: This swap could make it harder for people to exchange old currency for new, especially in remote or financially underserved areas. As a cautionary tale, Venezuela embarked on a similar path, cutting five zeros from the bolívar in 2018 and six more in 2021, and only succeeded in destroying what little trust remained in its currency.
Thailand | Cash Reporting Requirements Tightened
The Bank of Thailand ordered commercial banks to report resident cash flows above $200,000 (6,274,000 baht) starting Dec. 29, 2025. The move is intended to give officials more visibility into local currency movements. Digital gold trading platforms will now also be subject to mandatory transaction reporting, with banks required to disclose both daily aggregate activity and individual trades. “We need the most comprehensive information possible to monitor currency movements,” said Bank of Thailand governor Vitai Ratanakorn.
In context: The introduction of such controls could set a precedent for similar monitoring of digital assets like Bitcoin, normalizing transaction-level surveillance across alternative forms of money that could hamper or expose the work of dissidents and nonprofits.
Russia | New Digital Asset Framework Conflicts with Lawmakers' Comments
Russia is developing a new legal framework to regulate digital asset trading between individuals and institutions. Under the new framework, “unqualified” retail investors can buy and sell “liquid” digital assets after passing a risk test. They will, however, face an annual transaction cap of 300,000 rubles ($3,800) from a single intermediary. “Qualified” investors, as determined by the central bank, can purchase any digital asset (except privacy-focused coins) without restrictions after passing a risk test. The criteria distinguishing a qualified and unqualified investor remains undetermined.
In context: This follows comments from Anatoly Aksakov, the chair of the State Duma’s Committee on Financial Markets, who said that “cryptocurrencies will never become money in Russia,” adding that, “where payment is required, it must only be conducted in rubles.”
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Tell Delcy Rodríguez: You’re Fired by Thor Halvorssen
In an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, HRF’s founder and CEO, Thor Halvorssen, warns that replacing dictator Nicolás Maduro with Vice President Delcy Rodríguez risks preserving the same authoritarian system under a new face. He argues that Rodríguez lacks legitimacy, is tied to documented human rights abuses, and cannot credibly dismantle a regime that functions as a criminal enterprise. The piece cautions that negotiated succession without structural reform will fail, and that Venezuela’s crisis reflects a deeper demand for democratic legitimacy and accountability.
Financial Freedom Webinar: Bitcoin for Nonprofits
HRF will host a free, three-day webinar from December 15-17 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 Financial Manager at the Anti-Corruption Foundation Anna Chekhovich, who will share practical tools for receiving donations, securing funds, and sustaining activism when bank accounts are frozen or surveilled.
Bitcoin and Freedom Tech News
Finney Freedom Prize | HRF Announces Third Laureate
The Human Rights Foundation and the Finney family announced that the Finney Freedom Prize for the 2016 – 2020 era was awarded to Andreas M. Antonopoulos. The Finney Freedom Prize seeks to recognize individuals who, in Hal Finney’s footsteps, advance the computer as a tool to protect civil liberties worldwide. Antonopoulos’s foundational work educating millions about Bitcoin and pioneering the story of how the currency strengthens human rights has inspired countless new users and developers. Announced on January 10th, also known as “Running Bitcoin Day”, the prize includes 100,000,000 satoshis as well as a customized Finney Freedom Prize statue, designed by the artist Cryptograffiti. Learn more about the Finney Freedom Prize here.
Bitchat | Offline Messaging Takes Hold in Uganda
As fears of an election-period Internet shutdown grew in Uganda, hundreds of thousands of people (roughly 1% of the population) turned to Bitchat. The surge in downloads followed calls from Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine to download the app in preparation for a blackout, recalling the nationwide shutdown during the 2021 elections that left families, journalists, and activists suddenly isolated. Those fears were confirmed this week, when the regime announced a nationwide indefinite internet suspension beginning at 6:00 pm on Jan. 13, ahead of the elections on Jan. 15.
Why this matters: Bitchat relays messages directly between nearby phones over Bluetooth, forming a peer-to-peer mesh network that can function even when mobile data and traditional platforms shut down. It can enable Ugandans to organize and share information without interference. The open-source app has previously been used during protests in Nepal, Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Madagascar, where officials attempted to suppress demonstrations by blocking platforms or restricting internet access.
Fedi | Fully Open-Source Software Stack Adopted
Fedi, a company leveraging Bitcoin and ecash technology to support global communities, made its software stack fully open source on Jan. 3, the same day the Bitcoin genesis block was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Fedi’s platform combines bitcoin payments and encrypted messaging on top of the Fedimint protocol, which allows communities to operate shared bitcoin custody systems without relying on a central intermediary.
Why this matters: Fedi’s move to fully open-source reinforces its commitment to free and open technology. The move ensures the platform remains open to empower communities worldwide who are excluded from financial systems by authoritarian regimes.
ZEUS | Support for South African Retail QR Codes Added
ZEUS, a Bitcoin and Lightning wallet, has released a new alpha update that adds support for South Africa’s retail QR code standard, used by MoneyBadger (a platform that makes spending bitcoin seamless for everyday purchases). This allows users to pay in Bitcoin directly at everyday merchants in South Africa from a self-custodial Lightning wallet. The update also adds a new activity view for Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC), improving visibility into payments made through connected apps. This update makes Bitcoin more usable for everyday transactions and is especially useful for the more than 1 million people who have fled from nearby dictatorships to South Africa.
Why this matters: Small infrastructure upgrades like this quietly turn Bitcoin from a new technology into usable money in more regions of the world.
Torreable | Censorship-Resistant Website Deployment
Torreable is a new open-source tool that lets users publish static websites directly as Tor Onion Services (anonymous servers hosted within the Tor network) from their own computers. Users of Torreable can operate without relying on hosting providers, domain registrars, or other platforms, and instead publish directly onto the Tor network, making censorship, takedowns, and seizures by dictators harder to enforce. For journalists, activists, and NGOs operating under authoritarianism, Torreable functions as infrastructure for communication freedom. It helps ensure information remains accessible even when traditional channels are blocked or shut down.
Why this matters: As internet surveillance and censorship from authoritarian regimes rises globally, Torreable enables dissidents to readily host content on self-sovereign sites.
OpenSats | Fifteenth Round of Bitcoin Grants Announced
OpenSats, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting open-source projects and software, announced its 15th round of Bitcoin grants. Recipient projects include Braidpool, a peer-to-peer mining pool that enables individual miners to collaboratively construct blocks and coordinate rewards without relying on centralized mining pools. Other projects enhance Bitcoin privacy, such as Dana Wallet, a privacy-focused mobile wallet with Silent Payments support, which makes receiving Bitcoin more discreet for activists and nonprofits. Learn more about the other grantees here.
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Dictators Fuel Bitcoin Adoption with Anna Chekhovich
In this interview with Unchained Capital, a Bitcoin financial services company, Anna Chekhovich, financial director of Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), links the importance of Bitcoin to democratic movements worldwide struggling against dictatorships. She details how she used Bitcoin to sustain ACF after its expulsion from the Russian banking system and how the technology provided a lifeline for payroll and donations. Dissidents and nonprofits interested in learning more from Chekhovich can attend HRF’s three-day financial freedom webinar series. Learn more about it here.
