Good morning, readers!
We begin this week in El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele’s ruling party officially passed a sweeping “foreign agents” law. The legislation targets NGOs, journalists, and changemakers who receive any international funding, imposing a 30% tax and burdensome financial reporting requirements. The law risks hampering independent media, civil society, and organizations providing checks on state power.
Meanwhile, in Havana, Cuba, university students launched a rare academic strike after the government’s telecom monopoly sharply raised mobile data rates. The hike effectively prices out a generation of young Cubans from the Internet, turning a basic tool for communication and education into a luxury. Their protest has become a flashpoint for broader frustrations with Cuba’s collapsing currency and deepening digital repression.
In open-source news, SeedSigner, DIY Bitcoin hardware for self-custody, added support for right-to-left languages like Arabic and Persian, expanding Bitcoin access for billions. This upgrade came from real collaboration at the 17th annual Oslo Freedom Forum, where ideas between activists and builders became tools for freedom. We also highlight P2P BAND, a new tool that helps people worldwide find and connect with others to trade Bitcoin peer-to-peer over nostr.
We end with an interview between Bitcoin developer and educator Lisa Neigut (Niftynei) and one of the first Twitter developers, Rabble, who discusses building on nostr (decentralized social media) and the future of agentic programming. We also feature a new joint publication between HRF and The Signal, which explores the global battle over money and assets between dictators and dissidents.
Now, let’s see what’s happening.
Global News
El Salvador | Approves Foreign Agents Law
On May 20, El Salvador’s ruling Nueva Ideas party passed a foreign agents law that directly targets the financial lifeblood of civil society. The legislation mandates that any group or individual receiving international support register with the Interior Ministry, disclose sensitive financial data, and pay 30% of their foreign income or donations as tax. Violations carry steep fines up to $150,000. Press freedom advocates, like the Committee to Protect Journalists in Latin America, warn that the law is designed to intimidate journalists, suppress nonprofits, and dry up crucial funding that sustains El Salvador’s shrinking civil society. Independent media outlets like El Faro, which rely on foreign donors, say the legislation could force them to shut down. Foreign agent laws such as this are broadly implemented across authoritarian regimes from Russia to Nicaragua and serve as a warning of what could come in El Salvador.
Cuba | University Students Protest Internet Rate Hike
University students in Cuba launched an academic strike in response to a steep mobile data rate increase imposed by ETECSA, the Cuban state-run telecom monopoly. The new scheme offers a subsidized 6 GB for 360 pesos (about $2), but any extra usage now costs over 3,000 pesos, roughly $16 in a country where the average monthly wage is $20. For many, that prices out basic connectivity. Students from several faculties at the University of Havana declared the measures unjust and unsustainable, saying the hike cuts off access to learning, communication, and the outside world. Meanwhile, the University of Havana has reaffirmed “unconditional” support for the Communist Party of Cuba. With high inflation, collapsing services, and a growing youth exodus, this protest has become a flashpoint of generational discontent with Cuba’s digital and economic repression.
Iran | Currency Plunges Amid Financial Restrictions
As military tensions rise across the Middle East, Iran’s regime is restricting citizens’ financial activity at home. The Iranian toman (10,000 rials) plunged 18% against the dollar overnight, briefly crossing 98,000 and exposing just how brittle the country’s currency is after years of isolation. Instead of offering relief, Iranian officials responded by choking off financial alternatives for Iranians: restricting purchases and transactions with digital currencies, freezing online gold platforms, and blocking websites reporting real exchange rates. Internet watchdog NetBlocks also detected an Internet outage in Iran, further compounding the inability of ordinary Iranians to access or move their funds and access outside information. While regular people are barred from buying any digital currency, state-connected firms are quietly allowed to move billions. At a moment when people are scrambling to protect their livelihoods, the state is sealing financial exits while reserving financial privilege, stability, and freedom for itself. Watch this presentation from Iranian activist and Bitcoin educator Ziya Sadr at the 17th annual Oslo Freedom Forum for a glimpse into the financial repression Iranians face.
Kenya | Bitcoin Adoption in Africa’s Largest Informal Settlement
In the heart of Kibera, Africa’s largest informal settlement, a quiet revolution is underway. Nearly 200 residents and merchants in the Soweto West neighborhood now use Bitcoin to save, trade, and survive without bank accounts or paperwork. The initiative, led by the nonprofit Afribit, offers a lifeline to those locked out of the formal financial system. “People in Kibera do not have an opportunity to secure their lives with normal savings,” says co-founder Ronnie Mdawida. With Bitcoin, they don’t need permission or identification, just a phone and an Internet connection. Afribit backs this with a local wallet, education programs, a Bitcoin-powered marketplace, and even a waste management program where workers earn satoshis (the smallest unit of Bitcoin). “It’s fast, cheap, and lets me save,” says one vegetable vendor. This circular economy is a model for how Bitcoin can provide financial inclusion, opportunity, and freedom in financially underserved regions or struggling economies.
Saudi Arabia | Executes Journalist Over Social Media Activity
Saudi Arabian officials executed journalist Turki Al-Jasser last week after seven years in prison. The country’s top court upheld his death sentence from 2018, when Al-Jasser was convicted of terrorism and treason. At the time, the regime accused Al-Jasser of criticizing the Saudi royal family and posting about state corruption via an anonymous Twitter account. Officials held his trial entirely in secret. Civil society groups say the charges were “trumped up” and tied to his activism. Al-Jasser had previously written about the Arab Spring, women’s rights, and government corruption as well. His case fits into a well-worn pattern where the Saudi regime has increased politically motivated executions (330 in 2024) and tightened control over online speech.
Turkey | Google Algorithm Buries Independent Media
In Turkey, a quiet form of censorship is unfolding. Not through arrests or bans, but through code. After a recent algorithm update by Google, independent news outlets like T24 and Medyascope report losing up to 80% of their web traffic. These aren’t fringe blogs; they’re among the few remaining platforms publishing journalism critical of the Erdoğan regime. The traffic collapse comes as Ankara tightens control over digital platforms, including licensing requirements for YouTube creators rolled out in 2024. While Google insists the changes are global and technical, the outcome in Turkey is political. When corporate algorithms erase dissent, the line between state and platform blurs and threatens access to independent information vital for human rights and democracy. In this context, platforms like Nostr — censorship-resistant, open-source, and decentralized — are becoming increasingly necessary.
Recommended Content
The Signal x HRF: Out of Control
If you’re interested in how financial control shapes the world we live in, HRF launched a joint publication with The Signal to help dissect the global battle over money and assets between dictators and dissidents. Recent articles explore how governments expand control through financial repression, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and surveillance-driven economic policy. Essays feature voices like Nicaraguan activist Félix Maradiaga, who exposes how autocrats use the banking system to crush dissent; Togolese human rights defender Farida Nabourema, who explains why Bitcoin has become a vital tool for activists; and journalist Roger Huang who breaks down the global push for CBDCs and what that entails for financial privacy. Check out the publication here.
Bitcoin News
SeedSigner | Introduces Right-to-Left Language Support
SeedSigner, an open-source and fully customizable Bitcoin hardware wallet for self-custody, officially added support for right-to-left (RTL) languages like Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, and Urdu. This is a major accessibility breakthrough. It directly expands Bitcoin self-custody tools to over a billion people who speak RTL languages (many of whom are activists and nonprofits under authoritarian regimes facing capital controls, surveillance, or sanctions). This addition was achieved in part by in-person collaboration at the 17th annual Oslo Freedom Forum in May, where SeedSigner developers collaborated with Iranian activist Ziya Sadr, who produces Bitcoin educational content in Persian and Arabic. It’s incredible to see this kind of tangible impact emerge from the forum, where global connections turn into real tools for freedom. Get tickets for next year’s event here.
P2P BAND | Global Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Aggregator
P2P BAND is a new tool that helps people around the world find and connect with others to trade Bitcoin directly. It works as an aggregator, pulling together peer-to-peer (P2P) Bitcoin offers posted on the Nostr protocol, a decentralized social media protocol that resists transaction and communication censorship —- all without relying on centralized platforms. Users can log in with their Nostr public and private keys, sign trade orders, and filter offers based on who they trust, making exchanges more personal and secure. As governments and corporations increasingly monitor and restrict financial activity, tools like P2P BAND offer a way to preserve open access to digital cash.
Cove Wallet | Releases on App Store with Coin Control
Cove Wallet, an open-source mobile Bitcoin wallet, shared that they are officially approved for listing on Apple’s App Store. The app’s latest release also introduces coin control. This feature lets Cove wallet users view and manage their individual UTXOs (unspent transaction outputs). Users can search UTXOs by label, amount, address, or transaction ID and sort them by date or amount, granting greater control and privacy when spending their Bitcoin. Users can also manually select which UTXOs to use in a transaction and customize the amount, helping optimize privacy and fees. This release is especially valuable for human rights defenders seeking curated financial privacy and self-custodial finances.
Damus Notedeck | Releases v0.4.0 with Support for Zaps
The team behind Damus, a client for the decentralized nostr protocol, released a new beta version of Notedeck: a multi-platform browser for nostr. This beta release adds support for zaps, a Bitcoin-based tipping feature that lets users send small donations to publishers instantly and permissionlessly. It also introduces an AI assistant called Dave, which helps users search and summarize posts across the broader nostr network. More generally, Nostr is a censorship-resistant social protocol used by activists, journalists, and developers to share information without relying on traditional platforms that are vulnerable to censorship and deplatforming. For these groups and more, tools like Notedeck help organize and navigate the fast-growing nostr network, making it easier to find information, support peers, and stay connected in hostile or censored environments.
Maelstrom | Awards Payjoin Grant to Ben Allen and Silent Payments Grant to macgyver13
Bitcoin investment firm and grant maker Maelstrom awarded grants to Bitcoin developers Ben Allen to improve Payjoin and macgyver13 to work on Silent Payments. Payjoin is a privacy-enhancing transaction method that enables two users to each contribute an input to a Bitcoin transaction, breaking the common chain analysis heuristic that assumes a sender owns all inputs. This makes it harder for dictators to trace payments or link the identities of activists or nonprofits. Maelstrom’s grant to macgyver13 will help improve Silent Payments (BIP 352), a static address protocol for Bitcoin that allows transaction senders to generate unique addresses from a receiver’s static public key. This helps activists and nonprofits to receive Bitcoin donations more discreetly.
Spiral | Seeking Senior Engineer to Advance Stratum V2
Spiral, the Bitcoin-focused grant and education initiative backed by Block, is offering a unique grant opportunity aimed at tackling one of Bitcoin’s biggest challenges: mining pool centralization. They are seeking a senior engineer to make significant contributions to Stratum V2, a new mining protocol designed to further decentralize Bitcoin mining and solidify the network’s censorship resistance. The role will focus on building open-source servers, APIs, and proxies for real-world mining deployments. You can learn more about the opportunity here. Spiral also recently published a must-read article on the limits of CoinJoin, a Bitcoin privacy technique, exploring how post-CoinJoin behavior can undermine privacy and what steps activists and nonprofits can take to improve real-world financial privacy. Read it here.
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bitcoin++ Insider Edition: Rabble
In this tutorial, Bitcoin Educator Ben Perrin (BTC Sessions) shows viewers how to set up their own Bitaxe, a small, affordable, open-source Bitcoin mining device supported in part by HRF’s Bitcoin Development Fund. He walks through the process of getting started, running your own Bitcoin node (a computer that runs the Bitcoin software), joining a mining pool, and receiving payouts through the Lightning Network. Tutorials like these are important because they make home mining more accessible, enabling even those living under tyranny to leverage freedom tech to participate in and secure the Bitcoin network. For activists, mining at home means gaining more control over how they earn, spend, and store their money, all without relying on centralized systems that can block or monitor them. Watch the full video to learn how to take full ownership of your Bitcoin mining setup.
