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Human Rights Foundation Grants 10 Bitcoin to 20 Projects Worldwide

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Today, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) announced its most recent round of Bitcoin Development Fund grants, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.

10 BTC, currently worth $590,000 at the time of writing, is being granted across 20 different projects around the world focusing on technical education for people living under authoritarian regimes, Bitcoin development conferences, decentralizing mining, and providing human rights groups with more private financial solutions. The main areas of focus for these grants center around Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

While the HRF did not disclose how much money each project is receiving specifically, the following 20 projects are the recipients of today’s round of grants worth 10 BTC, or 1 billion satoshis, in total:

African Bitcoiners, a community dedicated to onboarding Africans to Bitcoin. Key initiatives include a “Bitcoin for Beginners” course, free Lightning payment routing for merchants, and the ability to buy airtime and data with Bitcoin. With the continent plagued by political and economic turmoil, Bitcoin can serve as a path to financial sovereignty. Funding will support the production of educational materials and support operational expenses, including salaries, infrastructure, and tools.

Stratospher, a Bitcoin Core developer focused on enhancing the privacy and decentralization of the Bitcoin protocol. Their work includes improving peer-to-peer (P2P) network privacy, reviewing critical pull requests in the libsecp library, and mentoring of new talent. Their work is important in helping protect users from financial surveillance and censorship by authoritarian regimes. This funding will support their full-time development efforts.

Coracle, a Nostr web client designed to create a social media experience that empowers individuals. Developed by hodlbod, recent and planned updates include customizable and shareable feeds, improved direct messaging for privacy, and the development of encrypted public and private communities. By leveraging Nostr, Coracle could offer a new censorship-resistant communications platform for human rights activists. Funding will support the hiring of a full-time developer.

Harbor, an open-source ecash wallet built to provide better Bitcoin privacy. Started by the Mutiny team, Harbor is now an independent project led by Ben Carman and Paul Miller. Harbor incorporates multiple mints, is Tor-only, and automates fund management. Financial tools like Harbor can help empower human rights defenders facing government surveillance by offering strong privacy guarantees. This grant will support the development of Harbor’s 1.0 production release.

The 256 Foundation’s mission is to make Bitcoin mining free and open, supporting developments in the Bitaxe initiative are the flagship project in achieving that mission. Bitaxe provides an affordable entry point for home mining, offering protection against surveillance in authoritarian regimes and enabling individuals to mine Bitcoin discreetly. Funds will support multiple engineers building on and improving Bitaxe with the aim of making the Bitaxe formfactor available with more ASIC manufactures.

Kiveclair, a community in the Democratic Republic of Congo educating individuals about Bitcoin. Led by Gloire Wanzavalere, co-founder of Africa Bitcoin Conference, Kiveclair hosts monthly meetups, training sessions for activists, journalists, and developers, and provides shelter to refugees. It is also planning its first local conference. Funds will cover the cost of meetups, educational materials, equipment purchases, and the rental of an educational space.

Jeff Gardner, a full-time developer focused on bringing end-to-end encryption to Nostr Direct and Group Messages without centralized servers, making them resilient against state intervention. His work is vital for enabling private communication channels for individuals and activists. Funding will support ongoing development, allocating bounties to community contributors, and conducting a security audit of the project.

Silentium, a self-custodial, privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet with built-in Silent Payments. Developed by Louis Singer, Silentium can help protect activists’ financial privacy by enabling them to receive Bitcoin donations through unique addresses generated from a static public key. This prevents surveillance regimes from linking transactions to activist’s identities. This grant will support the wallet’s infrastructure, including a full cloud node, web server, and the hiring of a software developer.

BTC Shule, an educational initiative by Belyï Nobel Kubwayo. It equips Burundians with the knowledge and skills to use Bitcoin for uncensorable payments under Burundi’s authoritarian regime. The project is structured around three key initiatives: a bilingual (Kirundi and French) educational platform, a physical center to host meetups, and a Bitcoin support community via Whatsapp and Telegram. The grant will support the development of the digital platform, educational materials, and the building of the center.

EttaWallet, an open-source, self-custodial mobile Lightning wallet by Collin Rukundo, a software developer and co-founder/CTO of Splice Africa. The wallet is designed to improve usability and accessibility. It seeks to challenge the dominance of custodial wallets and empower citizens in the Global South to take full control over their funds. This grant will support further development of the wallet, improve localization efforts, and foster a growing community of users.

Tor relay operator associations to support increased network reliability and performance, as recommended by the Tor Project. Funding will allow relay operator associations to deploy nodes that improve the stability and reliability of onion services and increase network robustness against DOS attacks. Tor is vital to human rights activists, as well as Bitcoin and Lightning nodes that use onion services.

Rikto Xonghoti, a Bitcoin education initiative led by Anurag Saikia, Basanta Goswami, and Pallab Goswami. Focused on creating a Bitcoin circular economy in the state of Assam (a region marked by underdevelopment), the project offers online Bitcoin education in Assamese. It also plans to establish a physical Bitcoin center in the town of Titabar. This grant will support teacher salaries, the center’s development, and the acquisition of Bitcoin nodes and mining equipment to boost local economic growth.

Yes Bitcoin Haiti, a grassroots organization led by Val, Papouche, and Armand. It seeks to empower Haitians living in political and financial turmoil with Bitcoin. As a new project, it will proceed in phases: first, project leaders will complete the Bitcoin Diploma course offered by The Core; next, they will translate educational materials into Haitian Creole and host workshops. Funding will support project leaders’ salaries, the purchase of equipment, and the production of educational materials.

Bitcoin Indonesia, an educational initiative led by Dimas, Marius, Keypleb, and Diana. It focuses on building an educational platform in Bahasa Indonesia (local language), expanding the local Bitcoin community, and connecting Indonesian talent with Bitcoin-related companies to drive career opportunities. It has also successfully hosted the country’s largest Bitcoin conference. This grant will support content creation, community outreach, and operational expenses.

Bitcoin++, a Bitcoin-only developer conference series organized by software developer and educator Lisa Neigut. The conference features long-form lectures and workshops for developers eager to dive into the intricacies of Bitcoin technology. Held in cities like Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and Austin, Bitcoin++ has explored key themes like scripts, mempool, and soon, eCash. Funds will cover travel expenses for developers from authoritarian countries to attend the upcoming Bitcoin++ mints ecash conference in Berlin.

TABConf, a Bitcoin conference hosted by Michael Tidwell in Atlanta, GA. Its mission is to create a forum for protocol and application developers to debate and collaborate on Bitcoin. Through collaborative workshops and interactive activities, attendees can share their insights, knowledge, and experience to further Bitcoin development and innovation. Funds will be used to cover conference expenses and travel costs for developers in need of financial assistance.

Baltic Honeybadger, the world’s first non-profit, Bitcoin-only conference hosted by Hodl Hodl. With its cypherpunk roots, the conference fosters discussions on technologies that support financial freedom, security, and privacy, especially for those in authoritarian regimes. Funding will cover travel expenses for activists and human rights defenders to deepen their knowledge on Bitcoin as a human rights tool.

LaBitconf and Descentralizar, two annual conferences in Argentina. LaBitconf, hosted by Rodolfo Andragnes, is the longest-running Bitcoin conference in Latin America. Funds will cover travel expenses for software developers and keynote speakers. Descentralizar, a one-day event held in three cities across the country, offers debates, workshops, and networking opportunities for attendees. Funds will also support travel expenses and conference equipment. Given Argentina’s ongoing economic challenges, these conferences provide an opportunity for Argentines to explore Bitcoin as a tool for financial freedom.

Satsconf, the largest Bitcoin-only conference in South America. Held in São Paulo, Brazil’s economic hub, Satsconf connects the local community with global thought leaders, including macroeconomists, veteran Bitcoin educators, freedom advocates, and developers shaping the future of Bitcoin. Funds will support travel expenses for speakers, event logistics, and the hackathon.

Solidarity Summit: Standing with Political Prisoners, a Vienna-based event organized by Hager Eissa that unites former political prisoners, human rights advocates, and others to address the challenges faced by political prisoners. The Summit promotes dialogue, advocacy, and support for political prisoners worldwide and serves as a catalyst for change. HRF support will help add a financial freedom component to the program. A documentary will also be produced to further highlight these issues. Funds will cover venue and event logistics, program development, speaker costs, and film production.

The HRF is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. The HRF continues to raise support for the Bitcoin Development Fund, and interested donors can find more info on how to donate bitcoin here. Applications for grant support by the HRF can be submitted here





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Bitcoin Cash eyes 18% rally

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Bitcoin Cash (BCH) added nearly 35% to its value in the past month and rallied 12% on Nov. 21. Bitcoin’s (BTC) observed a rally to $98,384 early on Nov. 21, with BCH and other top cryptocurrencies tagging along for the ride. 

An analysis of on-chain and technical indicators and data from the derivatives market shows that BCH could extend gains and retest its mid-April 2024 peak of $569.10. 

Bitcoin hits all-time high, fork from 2017 ignites hope for traders

Bitcoin hit a record high of $98,384 on Nov. 21, a key milestone as the cryptocurrency eyes a run to the $100,000 target. BTC was forked in 2017, creating a spin-off or alternative, Bitcoin Cash. 

BCH hit a peak of $1,650 in May 2021. Since April 2024, BCH has been consolidating with no clear trend formation. 

BCH price rallied nearly 30% since Nov. 15, on-chain indicators show that further rally is likely in the Bitcoin spin-off token. 

Bitcoin Cash’s active addresses have climbed consistently since August 2024. Santiment data shows an uptrend in active addresses, meaning BCH traders have sustained demand for the token, supporting a bullish thesis for the cryptocurrency. 

The ratio of daily on-chain transaction volume in profit to loss exceeds 2, is 2.141 on Thursday. BCH traded on-chain noted twice as many profitable transactions on the day, as the ones where losses were incurred. This is another key metric that paints a bullish picture for the token forked from Bitcoin. 

Binance funding rate is positive since Nov. 10. In the past eleven days, traders have been optimistic about gains in BCH price, according to Santiment data. 

Chart of the week: Bitcoin Cash eyes double-digit rally, bullish indicators point to gains in BCH - 1
BCH price vs. active addresses, binance funding rate, ratio of daily on-chain transaction volume in profit to loss | Source: Santiment 

The network realized profit/loss metric identifies the net gain or loss of all traders who traded the token within a 24 hour period. NPL metric for Bitcoin Cash shows traders have been taking profits on their holdings, small positive spikes on the daily price chart represent NPL. 

Investors need to keep their eyes peeled for significant movements in NPL, large positive spikes imply heavy profit-taking activities that could increase selling pressure across exchange platforms. 

84.48% of Bitcoin Cash’s supply is currently profitable, as of Nov. 21. This metric helps traders consider the likelihood of high profit-taking or exits from existing BCH holders, to time an entry/ exit in spot market trades. 

Chart of the week: Bitcoin Cash eyes double-digit rally, bullish indicators point to gains in BCH - 2
BCH price vs. network realized profit/loss, percent of total supply in profit | Source: Santiment

Derivatives traders are bullish on BCH

Derivatives market data from Coinglass shows a 33% increase in open interest in Bitcoin Cash. Open interest represents the total number of active contracts that haven’t been settled, representing demand for the BCH token among derivatives traders. 

Derivatives trade volume climbed 613% in the same timeframe, to $2.35 billion. Across exchanges, Binance and OKX, the long/short ratio is above 1, closer to 2, meaning traders remain bullish on BCH and expect prices to rally. 

Chart of the week: Bitcoin Cash eyes double-digit rally, bullish indicators point to gains in BCH - 3
Bitcoin Cash derivatives data analysis | Source: Coinglass 

BCH futures open interest chart shows a steady increase in the metric, alongside BCH price gain since November 5, 2024. Open interest climbed from $190.74 million to $254.87 million between November 5 and 21.  

Chart of the week: Bitcoin Cash eyes double-digit rally, bullish indicators point to gains in BCH - 4
BCH futures open interest | Source: Coinglass

Technical indicators show BCH could gain 18%

The BCH/USDT daily price chart on Tradingview.com shows that the token remains within the consolidation. The token is stuck within a range from $272.70 to $568.20. BCH could attempt to break past the upper boundary of the range, a daily candlestick close above $568.20 could confirm the bullish breakout. 

The April 2024 high of $719.50 is the next major resistance for BCH and the second key level is at $805.80, a key level from May 2021. 

The relative strength index reads 64, well below the “overvalued” zone above 70. RSI supports a bullish thesis for BCH. Another key momentum indicator, moving average convergence divergence flashes green histogram bars above the neutral line. This means BCH price trend has an underlying positive momentum. 

The awesome oscillator is in agreement with the findings of RSI and MACD, all three technical indicators point at likelihood of gains. 

Chart of the week: Bitcoin Cash eyes double-digit rally, bullish indicators point to gains in BCH - 5
BCH/USDT daily price chart | Source: Crypto.news

A failure to close above the upper boundary of the range could invalidate the bullish thesis. BCH could find support at the midpoint of the range at $419.90 and the 50-day exponential moving average at $388.50. 

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.



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Bitcoin Breakout At $93,257 Barrier Fuels Bullish Optimism

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Bitcoin has shattered expectations once again, surging past the critical $93,257 level in a display of unstoppable momentum. This breakout has ignited fresh waves of bullish optimism across the crypto market, as traders and investors anticipate greater gains. With market sentiment shifting and key indicators aligning, could this be the spark for Bitcoin’s next major rally?

As optimism steadily increases in the market, the goal is to take a closer look at BTC’s impressive breakout above the $93,257 mark, analyze the positive sentiment driving its climb, and assess the potential for continued upward strength in the market.

Bullish Indicators: What’s Fueling BTC’s Uptrend?

Currently, on the 4-hour chart, BTC is sustaining its position after successfully surpassing the $93,257 mark while trading above the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA). By maintaining its position above this level and the 100-day SMA, BTC demonstrates resilience and capability for more price growth, targeting new highs.

Bitcoin

An analysis of the 4-hour Relative Strength Index (RSI) shows a significant surge, climbing to 70% from its previous low of 56%, indicating strong bullish pressure for BTC. While this increase signals growing positive market sentiment, it raises concerns about the rally’s sustainability since a price correction could occur if profit-taking ensues.

Bitcoin is showing strong positive movement after breaking past the $93,257 level, supported by a rise above the 100-day SMA, reflecting sustained bullish strength and potential for continued upward movement. The fact that BTC is consistently above the 100-day SMA suggests a solid trend and that the bulls are eager to push prices higher, possibly leading to an extended growth if pressure continues to build.

Bitcoin

Finally, the RSI on the daily chart is currently at 81%, well above the key 50% threshold, signaling a strong uptrend for Bitcoin. With the RSI at this level, it suggests that the upside pressure is likely to continue, which means that Bitcoin’s price could keep rising in the near term, as there are no signs of a reversal or decline.

What The $93,257 Breakout Signals For Bitcoin

The $93,257 breakout opens the door to a more optimistic future outlook for Bitcoin. This key resistance level has been decisively breached, suggesting that BTC may continue its upbeat momentum, potentially targeting higher price levels such as the $100,000 mark and beyond.

However, careful monitoring is essential for any signs of resistance or market corrections that could hinder its ascent. Should such a scenario occur, Bitcoin’s price could begin to drop toward the $93,257 mark. A break below this level might trigger further declines, possibly testing additional support levels in the process.

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Bitcoin Approaches $100K; Retail Investors Stay Steady

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Bitcoin trades at $99,340.23, approaching the $100K mark as retail investors retain market dominance.

What is more interesting about this rally is the dominance of retail investors, who currently account for 88.07% of all Bitcoin (BTC) in circulation, according to The Block. Contrary to the recent claims that institutional investors are leaving retail investors behind in ownership of BTCs, the asset is still in the hands of retail investors, which underlines their stronghold in the market. This grassroots stronghold contrasts the much smaller shares held by whales at 1.26% and institutional investors at 10.68%.

Bitcoin edges at $100K while retail investors still hold the reins - 1
A heat map showing whales, investors and retail investors of Bitcoin. | Source: crypto.news

Adding momentum to BTC, the historic debut of BlackRock’s BTC ETF options witnessed $1.9 billion in notional value traded on the first day. It is a landmark news because it signifies growing institutional interest in BTC, yet lowers entry barriers for everyday investors. But there’s still some way to go, says Jeff Park, Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise Invest, in his observations on X about the ETF’s potential to reshape access to BTC. 

Jeff Park comment on BTC ETF

Bitcoin Breakdown:

How BTC ownership is distributed supports the overall trend of asset availability in the market. Companies such as Coinbase have substantial quantities of BTC, holding more than 2.25 million BTC. However, most of this is kept for their clients. Satoshi Nakamoto‘s wallet, which contains 96,8452 BTC, remains untouched as it played a role in creating the Genesis block.  

Overall, funds and ETFs account for 1.09 million BTC, or about 5.2%, while governments such as the U.S. and China collectively hold around 2.5%. 

Despite BTC witnessing price surges, the market is far from stable and often shows extreme volatility. For instance, on Nov. 21, the price of BTC dipped to $95,756.24, with trading volume reaching $98.40 billion. This volatility then reflects the vital role that retail investors play during price hikes, even as institutional investors become more active in the market. 

Some argue that BTC is becoming more centralized, but the data does not back this claim. Financial products like ETFs are attractive to institutions, but they also make BTC more accessible to retail investors. BTC continues to align with Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision of a decentralized and democratized financial system. As BTC nears the $100,000 threshold, its open-and-shut conversation that BTC’s ownership remains essential.





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