Welcome to this week’s Financial Freedom Report.
Cuba’s communist regime approved more than 175 economic reforms touting liberalization, but real financial freedom remains out of reach for everyday people. Local economists warn that the reforms could represent a controlled privatization of state assets into the hands of politically connected insiders, rather than a genuine economic opening.
Tether Wallet, an open-source and self-custodial Bitcoin wallet created by the team behind the stablecoin Tether (USDT), added support for the Lightning Network, bringing fast and inexpensive Bitcoin payments to users. Meanwhile, Cashu developers unveiled plans to add Payjoin, a Bitcoin privacy tool, to the Cashu Development Kit. This integration could enhance privacy for activists when moving between ecash and on-chain Bitcoin.
We end with an interview with Matt Odell, co-founder of Bitcoin VC firm Ten31 and nonprofit OpenSats and one of Bitcoin’s most consistent voices on financial privacy and freedom tech. He explains why financial surveillance is not just a concern for human rights activists under authoritarian regimes but a structural risk for anyone who engages with the digital world.
Global News
Cuba | Market Reforms Spark Insider Privatization Fears Among Local Economists
Last week, Cuba approved more than 175 economic reforms that would allow, to various degrees, private banks, larger private businesses, foreign investment, and direct imports and exports. The move should not be mistaken for financial freedom, however. Local economists have scrutinized Clause 17, which allows state enterprises to be converted into shareholding companies. Without independent courts, transparent markets, or political reform, experts warn that this privatization could resemble Russia’s post-Soviet oligarch era or Nicaragua’s “Piñata,” where politically connected insiders gained control of formerly state-owned assets. Cuba may be creating the appearance of economic freedom while wealth is quietly redistributed to those closest to power.
In context: The measures come after years of economic crisis. Cubans are living through rolling blackouts, empty store shelves, mass emigration, and currency collapse. In the first seventeen days of June alone, the peso lost 17.2% of its value against the dollar.
Sudan | Currency Collapse Pushes Food Further Out of Reach
For many Sudanese families, the same money today buys far less food than it did just a week ago. As the Sudanese pound continues to lose value against foreign currencies, the cost of basic necessities has surged. Traders in Omdurman, the second most populous city in the country, reported that food prices rose by roughly 35% in a single week, while purchasing activity fell as households struggled to keep up. A 50-kilogram sack of sugar rose from 150,000 to 204,000 Sudanese pounds. A sack of flour jumped from 48,000 to 72,000 pounds. For Sudanese already enduring war, displacement, and a severe hunger crisis, inflation is becoming another front in the struggle to survive.
Nigeria | Central Bank Releases New eNaira Strategy
Nigeria’s central bank has unveiled a new strategy to revive its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira, after years of weak adoption. Under its new Payments System Vision 2028 framework, the Central Bank of Nigeria plans to reposition the currency from a standalone digital currency into a core piece of national financial infrastructure. The strategy includes integrating the CBDC with open banking systems, digital identity programs, instant payment networks, cross-border rails, fintech apps, and government payments such as welfare disbursements and other public transfers. Previous attempts to force the use of the CBDC did little to make the eNaira a widely used payment tool, but coincided with a cash redesign that left many Nigerians unable to access money.
Why this matters: Nigeria’s CBDC cannot be viewed in isolation from the country’s political environment. Nigeria faces persistent corruption, pressure on activists and journalists, and a history of using financial rules to police public behavior. Now, instead of abandoning the CBDC project after its poor performance, officials are trying to embed it more deeply into the financial system.
India and Nepal | Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Links With Nepal for Instant Remittances
India and Nepal launched a new cross-border remittance system linking India’s state-run UPI with Nepal’s National Payments Interface (NPI). The link with the NPI extends India’s growing international UPI network, which is now accepted in nine countries and is integrated with India’s CBDC, the digital rupee. The remittance system allows citizens and visitors in both countries to send and receive money between countries through mobile banking apps and digital wallets, reducing reliance on more private forms of payment like cash. Faster cross-border payments are useful, but state-backed payment rails expand the financial systems that authoritarian regimes can monitor or restrict.
China | 26 Financial Institutions Added to CBDC Network
China has added 26 domestic and international financial institutions to its cross-border digital yuan payment network. The system, known as Cross-border e-CNY Transfer Services (CBETS), gives participating banks direct access to settlement infrastructure for China’s CBDC. The CBETS operates alongside China’s Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), allowing participating institutions to make cross-border payments using the digital yuan. According to reports, institutions from countries ruled by authoritarian regimes, including Qatar and Thailand, have already joined the network.
Why this matters: China is a one-party surveillance state with a long record of monitoring citizens, suppressing dissent, and using digital systems to enforce political control. For dissidents, journalists, ethnic minorities, and civil society groups, the CBDC is a payment network designed around officials who already use financial repression to control people at home.
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From Burma to Freedom: Why Bitcoin Is a Human Rights Tool with Win Ko Ko Aung
On the You’re The Voice podcast, HRF’s Head of Global Bitcoin Adoption, Win Ko Ko Aung, shares his journey from growing up under military rule in Burma to becoming a leading advocate for Bitcoin and financial freedom. Win discusses how Burma’s history of currency debasement, the 2021 military coup, and the freezing of activists’ bank accounts shaped his understanding of money and human rights. When his own accounts were targeted, Bitcoin remained accessible and ultimately helped him leave the country and rebuild his life.
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Tether Wallet | Lightning Payments Added
Tether Wallet, an open-source and self-custodial Bitcoin wallet, released version 1.4 with support for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network (a lower-cost, faster, and more private way to send and receive bitcoin). The integration appears to be powered by Spark, a Bitcoin payments protocol developed by Lightspark. The update specifically adds support for BOLT11 invoices and LNURL. This means dissidents and nonprofits can generate specific payment requests, share Lightning invoices, and experience improved fee estimation. LNURL also enables human-readable Lightning addresses, so organizations can share a simple address instead of generating a new invoice for every donor. Tether’s Wallet Development Kit is also being integrated with Arkade, giving developers another way to build wallets that combine Bitcoin, Lightning, and stablecoin payments in one app. This could particularly appeal to activists and nonprofits who need both financial freedom and access to a stable US dollar value.
Cashu | Payjoin Support in Development
Cashu ecash developers are working on Payjoin support for the Cashu Development Kit (CDK), a software toolkit used to build ecash (digital cash backed by bitcoin) applications. Payjoin is a privacy technique that works by mixing inputs of a Bitcoin payment with inputs from the recipient, making it harder for outside observers to trace who paid whom. It can break surveillance heuristics like chain analysis that dictators use to surveil the blockchain and punish dissidents. The benefit extends beyond direct users: Payjoin improves privacy for the entire Bitcoin network, even for those who never use it.
In context: The proposal builds on Cashu’s recent integration of on-chain minting and melting, the process by which bitcoin is turned into ecash and later redeemed back into bitcoin. If implemented, Payjoin could be used for transactions between users and Cashu mints, making them more difficult to surveil or analyze because the mint itself would contribute transaction inputs, breaking common ownership assumptions used in blockchain analysis.
GitHub | Development Infrastructure Disabled for LDK
Bitcoin developer Matt Corallo reported that GitHub disabled key development infrastructure for the Lightning Development Kit (LDK). LDK is an open-source toolkit that makes it easier for developers to add Lightning payments to apps and wallets. According to Corallo, GitHub initially flagged a contributor’s account and later disabled the project’s continuous integration (CI) systems, including self-hosted testing infrastructure. Despite appeals and escalation through GitHub’s corporate support channels, the restrictions reportedly remain in place.
Why this matters: LDK is foundational infrastructure used by developers building Bitcoin payment tools. While the software itself remains available, the incident shows the risks of depending on centralized platforms for software distribution.
Bitcoin Indonesia and My First Bitcoin | Unconference Announced
Bitcoin Indonesia, Indonesia’s pioneering Bitcoin gathering, and My First Bitcoin, an international Bitcoin education initiative, announced a Bitcoin unconference in Surabaya, Indonesia, on August 22, 2026. The event is designed to be a safe learning space for beginners, Bitcoiners, My First Bitcoin alumni, local residents, and activists to come together and have open discussions on self-custody, financial freedom, and the importance of Bitcoin. In regions where financial precarity is growing, grassroots events like this help people learn how to use Bitcoin safely and practically, and build trust and community around freedom money.
Maelstrom | Bitcoin Grant Program Report Published
Maelstrom, a decentralized technology fund, published its Bitcoin Grant Program Annual Report, covering the work of four open-source developers it has funded through June 2026. Developers include Rkrux, Stratospher, Benalleng, and Macgyver. The report highlights their contributions aimed at improving Bitcoin’s scalability, privacy, and anti-fragility. Reports like these give the broader community visibility into how grant funds are being used and into the progress being made behind the scenes to make Bitcoin a better tool for financial freedom.
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Financial Surveillance and Privacy on Bitcoin with Matt Odell
In this episode of Mara Foundation TV, Matt Odell, co-founder of Bitcoin VC firm Ten31 and nonprofit OpenSats and one of Bitcoin’s most consistent voices on financial privacy and freedom tech, explains why financial surveillance is not just a concern for human rights defenders but a structural risk for anyone who interacts with the digital world. He covers how governments routinely buy transaction data from payment platforms, how a single mistake can retroactively expose your entire financial history, and what practical steps anyone can take today to meaningfully improve their financial privacy.
