Greetings from Oslo!
Bitcoin Is Front and Center at This Year's Oslo Freedom Forum
Editor’s note: Please click on images featured in the newsletter to read the articles cited.
This week, I went to Oslo, Norway to cover the Oslo Freedom Forum.
At the event, I saw some incredible people speak, some of whom included:
Paul Rusesabagina, the Rwandan human rights activist and manager of Hôtel des Mille Collines, where Hutu and Tutsi refugees fleeing genocide during the Rwandan Civil War in the mid-1990s hid to avoid being killed. The movie Hotel Rwanda is based on his work.
Sam Rainsy, co-founder of Cambodia’s main opposition party
Lobsang Sangay, former President of Tibet
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps The Score (a must-read on trauma) and founder of the Trauma Research Foundation
I also spent some time with Alexei Navalny’s people one evening after the event. (A friend offered to introduce me to his wife, but, maybe for the first time in my life, I couldn’t think of anything to say and politely declined. “My condolences” felt like a woefully inadequate statement to say to someone who’s husband had recently been murdered by Putin.)
Overall, the event was utterly inspiring. My heart broke hearing the stories of activists from around the world fighting for both their own freedom and the freedom of their communities and countries. Some of said stories brought me to tears.
But I wasn’t there just to listen.
I was at the event to cover it for Forbes Digital Assets and Bitcoin Magazine.
Below are links to the pieces I wrote on the event for both publications.
In the Forbes piece, I wrote about how entrepreneurs and developers in the Bitcoin space speak and work with activists to develop tools for the activists and their communities that help them transact privately and permissionlessly when they’ve been cut off from the traditional financial system.
In the Bitcoin Magazine piece, I wrote about some of the highlights from Wednesday, the “Financial Freedom Track” day of the event at which many activists who use Bitcoin as a tool of last resort spoke.
I put a lot into writing both pieces, so I hope you can take a moment to read them.
On that note, I’m currently sick in bed from working so hard while in Oslo, so I’m gonna jet.
Sending big hugs and big love to everyone.
Take it ease.
Best,
Frank
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