A Nicaraguan dissident reveals how dictators weaponize financial systems to crush dissent—and how tools like Bitcoin offer hope.

"Some of us targeted by authoritarians and committed to transparency and accountability have turned to Bitcoin not to get rich or to push an anarchist love of currency free from state control. Instead, we are simply looking for an answer to the systematic exclusion that we face in repressive states."

~ Félix Maradiaga

https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclusive/how-dictators-use-financial-repression-against-their-opponents/

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Discussion

Tactics of financial repression:

-- Financial surveillance and violation of banking privacy

-- False charges of money laundering and illicit financing

-- Confiscation of physical and financial assets

-- Manipulation of national and international financial institutions

-- Abuse of regulations meant to fight money laundering

We must recognize financial freedom as crucial to defending democracy.