The Africa Bitcoin Conference has announced the Human Rights Foundation as a sponsor for its inaugural event, taking place December 5–7, 2022, in Accra, Ghana. The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a non-profit organization that promotes civil liberties and basic freedoms for people living under authoritarian regimes worldwide.
Currently, more than 53 per cent of the world’s population, making up more than 4.3 billion people, live under one of 95 authoritarian regimes, ranging from Cuba to Saudi Arabia, to Togo, to China. HRF’s programs seek to support individual activists, journalists, and NGO leaders inside these societies to help expand human freedom.
The Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation, Alex Gladstein, will be one of the notable speakers at the three-day event. Gladstein also served as Vice President of Strategy for HRF’s Oslo Freedom Forum since its inception in 2009. He has spoken at universities, ranging from MIT to Stanford, briefed the European Parliament and US State Department, and serves as faculty at Singularity University and as an advisor to Blockchain Capital, a leading venture firm in the fintech industry. He frequently speaks and writes about why Bitcoin matters for freedom, and co-authored “The Little Bitcoin Book” in 2019. His new book “Check Your Financial Privilege” was published in March 2022.
HRF initiatives include the Oslo Freedom Forum – a conference series that brings together dissidents and innovators in cities worldwide; Flash Drives for Freedom – a program that helps get information about the outside world into countries like North Korea; and the Bitcoin Development Fund, which supports open-source developers in repressive regimes to help the people access better monetary tools.
Speaking on the partnership with HRF, Farida Nabourema, a Togolese human rights activist and the convener of the Africa Bitcoin Conference, believes Bitcoin can help unify and foster world peace. “it is important for societies to live free without oppression”, said Nabourema. She is also a big fan and supporter of HRF and Gladstein.
She said: “We are delighted to have Alex as one of our speakers at the Africa Bitcoin Conference, and we are thankful for the support the Human Rights Foundation has given the conference so far.”
Gladstein will join other notable speakers like Jack Dorsey, Chairman of Block and co-founder of Twitter; Obi Nwosu, co-founder and CEO of Fedi, and Ray Yussuf, CEO of Paxful, among others.
The Africa Bitcoin Conference will bring together developers, investors, startups, and human rights activists from across the continent and beyond, to build a movement that will accelerate Bitcoin adoption in Africa.
The largest Bitcoin conference ever to take place in Africa, is expected to have over 1000 attendees.
