Bitcoin fixes broken democracies and fights government corruption by limiting its power to control its people, argues Bitcoin advocate and chief strategy officer of the Human Rights Foundation, Alex Gladstein. In a Feb. 20 interview, Gladstein argued that the decentralized nature of Bitcoin (BTC) can act as a barrier against corruption and tyranny. "Where the democracies have broken down, I do think it's very clearly related to fiat currency, and I do think that Bitcoin fixes this in a way," he said. “#Bitcoin fixes democracy…#Bitcoin is…free speech, property rights & open capital markets…tyrants need…the opposite: they need censorship…confiscation & closed …

A Russian legislator who was one of the authors of the bill to legalize cryptocurrency mining in the country has been tied to a local over-the-counter (OTC) exchange known as Bankoff. Russian opposition activist Mikhail Khodorkovsky linked Bankoff OTC to lawmaker Andrei Lugovoi in an article of London-based investigative project Dossier Center on Dec. 19. The 6,000-word article was accompanied by a video titled “Crypto-Kremlin: How the authorities launder Bitcoin,” released on Khodorkovksy’s Live YouTube channel. According to Dossier, Bankoff is the most active peer-to-peer trader using Russian rubles on the major global crypto exchange Binance. As previously reported, Binance …

Almost 4,000 people have used a CryptoLaw petition app to demand that Congress investigate United States Securities and Exchange Commission head Gary Gensler’s “actions in the FTX fraud,” the organization claimed in a tweet on the morning of Nov. 14. The CryptoLaw website is run by lawyer John Deaton, who is representing Ripple against the SEC and contributes frequently to the public discourse on the case. The petition reads, in part: “Evidence has emerged that proves that Gensler met with […] [FTX CEO] Sam Bankman-Fried, before the $14 billion collapse of FTX. Members of Congress have already been informed that …

Ever since El Salvador legalized Bitcoin (BTC) as mainstream tender, President Nayib Bukele used Twitter on numerous occasions to announce the country’s BTC acquisitions. However, ALAC El Salvador — a non-governmental anti-corruption bureau — was recently denied information from a state development bank, BANDESAL, regarding El Salvador’s Bitcoin purchases and sales. As a development bank for El Salvador, BANDESAL created a $150 million trust fund to guarantee the convertibility to dollars for citizens and merchants. The request for disclosure of El Salvador’s Bitcoin acquisition was denied on the grounds of confidentiality. ALAC El Salvador refuted the denial by highlighting that …

Puerto Rico recently announced that it may be looking for a blockchain solution to fight government corruption, particularly after a Puerto Rican mayor pleaded guilty to accepting a cash bribe of more than $100,000. But could a distributed digital ledger really make an impact in the unincorporated United States territory’s struggle against public fraud and wrongdoing? It might if it were done in tandem with other public efforts, governance experts tell Cointelegraph. Puerto Rico could gain, too, by heeding lessons from other countries that implemented blockchain to fight corruption in recent years, including Georgia, India and Colombia, and it shouldn’t …

Following another corruption scandal, the government of Puerto Rico is reportedly seeking to improve its anti-corruption efforts by adopting blockchain technology. Puerto Rican House Speaker Rafael “Tatito” Hernandez announced that lawmakers will hold meetings with local blockchain enthusiasts this month to discuss the potential adoption of blockchain technology to reduce corruption. The implementation of blockchain and smart contracts could bring more transparency and accountability to the public sector, the official said at a Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association conference, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 6. “We have a real credibility problem and this might be part of the solution,” Hernandez said, …

Amid El Salvador preparing to officially enforce the country’s Bitcoin Law in early September, Salvadorans took to the streets to protest over the adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as an official currency. El Salvador’s anti-Bitcoiners have expressed discontent regarding the government’s plans to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, with hundreds of protesters marching through the capital, San Salvador, last Friday, Euronews TV network reported. The demonstrators — including retirees, veterans, disability pensioners and workers — voiced their concerns over Bitcoin’s unstable price. The crowd was worried that the government would start paying their pensions in Bitcoin instead of the United States …

Justus Abonyo, former chair of Kenya’s Social Democratic Party and current candidate for commissioner of the country’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has called for the adoption of blockchain voting. According to a report by Kenyan news outlet, The Star, Abonyo spoke of this while appearing before the selection committee overseeing the appointment of IEBC commissioners at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre on Thursday. Detailing his support for blockchain voting adoption, Abonyo said such a move would have significant, cost savings benefits of up to 300%, stating: “The cost of a ballot in Kenya ranges between $7 to $25 …

Russian lawmakers are working on new legislation that would allow the government to confiscate cryptocurrencies, according to a senior official. Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov claimed that the government is now developing a set of amendments to the country’s criminal code to allow authorities to seize crypto obtained from illegal activity, local news agency TASS reported. Speaking at a conference of prosecutors’ offices of European countries on Wednesday, Krasnov stressed that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) have been increasingly used for corruption and bribery. The official said that cryptocurrency is also a tool for laundering embezzled budget funds. “The criminal usage …

Transparency, fairness and efficiency of government systems are some of the areas that are prime for blockchain disruption in public governance. Writing for the WEF Global Agenda section, Matthew Van Niekerk, co-founder and CEO of blockchain-as-a-service outfit SettleMint, highlighted how blockchain adoption could improve public procurement and land registries. According to Van Niekerk, public procurement is one of the main avenues of corruption and wastage in government. As part of the report, the SettleMint CEO argued that the closed-off nature of the process encourages illicit interaction between public officials and private businesses. Van Niekerk surmised that blockchain adoption could facilitate …

Russia adopted its cryptocurrency law in January, but this legislation does not provide a direct answer to some questions, including how local officials should deal with their crypto holdings. There are at least two other legal initiatives requiring Russian public officials to declare or even get rid of their cryptocurrency holdings entirely in 2021. On Dec. 10, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree obliging some public officials to disclose their crypto holdings by June 30. The decree was adopted as part of the country’s law “On Digital Financial Assets,” or DFA, which was made effective on Jan. 1. …

Blockchain technology can help countries like Kenya from losing billions of dollars to corruption, according to an official at the United Nations’ drugs and crime agency. David Robinson, the regional anti-corruption advisor at the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime, believes that new technologies like blockchain will help Kenya combat government corruption and other economic crimes. According to Nation Media Group on Nov. 3, Robinson claimed that blockchain-based solutions can provide full traceability of transactions, protecting public registries from fraud and forgery. The official said: “Blockchain technology becomes attractive to the global community and international organizations because it is a …