A group of human rights advocates from across the globe have written a letter to U.S. lawmakers, urging them to be concerned about the role of importance of cryptocurrencies against unstable economies whose local currencies are collapsing.
The letter reads:
“We are 21 human rights advocates from 20 countries across the globe who have dedicated ourselves to the struggle for freedom and democracy. In this struggle, we have relied on Bitcoin and dollar instruments known as stablecoins, as have tens of millions of others living under authoritarian regimes or unstable economies.”
As a counter to technologists’ claim that crypto is unproven and risky, experts had sent a letter to the U.S. Congress last week, reflecting their sceptism towards cryptocurrencies as they deemed them too dangerous. Nevertheless, human rights advocates are up in arms against this declaration because they believe digital assets have been life-changing.
One of the supporters, Lyudmyla Kozlovska, pointed out:
“For me, Bitcoin is not just technology. It has literally saved the lives of my friends and many Ukrainians. Without it, we would not have been able to raise money so quickly to pay for protective equipment for soldiers in the early days of the Russian invasion.”
Therefore, the advocates asked the U.S. lawmakers to use an empathetic and open-minded approach when tackling the matter because cryptocurrencies were proving to be game-changers for people facing economic hardship and political repression.
The letter added:
“Bitcoin provides financial inclusion and empowerment because it is open and permissionless. Anyone on earth can use it. Bitcoin and stablecoins offer ungated access to the global economy for people in countries like Nigeria, Turkey, or Argentina, where local currencies are collapsing, broken, or cut off from the outside world.”
In Argentina, citizens sought shelter in crypto to tame runaway prices as local inflation surged by more than 50%, Blockchain.News reported.
A similar picture was painted in Nigeria because 35% of Nigerians had entered the crypto market in six months based on factors like high inflation rates, according to a study by crypto exchange KuCoin.
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