Human

Anonymous

Tezos

2024

Bitcoin

María Corina Machado, a human rights activist and political opposition leader in Venezuela who has called Bitcoin a “lifeline” for Venezuelans, received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democracy in the South American country.
Machado praised Bitcoin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price">BTC</a>) <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-is-freedom" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">as a pro-freedom technology</a> in a 2024 interview with Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at the nonprofit Human Rights Foundation. She <a href="https://x.com/dgt10011/status/1976634474826781037" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said</a>:
<blockquote>
 “Some Venezuelans found a lifeline in Bitcoin during hyperinflation, using it to protect their wealth and to finance their escape. Today, Bitcoin bypasses government-imposed exchange rates and helps many of our people. It has evolved from a humanitarian tool to a vital means of resistance.
</blockquote>
The only way to help Venezuela’s poorest is by ensuring property rights, low inflation, equal access to opportunity, and government,” she said.&nbsp;
<figure>
 <img alt="Decentralization, P2P, Venezuela, Freedom, P2P Payments, P2P Networks, Nobel Prize, Bitcoin Adoption" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-10/0199ceed-d26d-7c08-8c0a-6cf3c4e2e8a5" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Source: <a href="https://x.com/MariaCorinaYA/status/1976642376119549990" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Maria Corina Machado</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
Critics have said the Venezuelan opposition movement is a tool of foreign interests. Five Venezuelan opposition leaders met with US secretary of state Marco Rubio in May to discuss plans for regime change in the country, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/us/politics/maduro-venezuela-trump-rubio.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">according</a> to The New York Times.
Political activists, resistance movements and individuals facing hyperinflating local fiat currencies with strict currency controls continue to view Bitcoin as a lifeline, allowing these <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/how-can-third-world-countries-counter-inflation-using-bitcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">groups and individuals to preserve wealth</a> and circumvent state currency controls.&nbsp;
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/jack-dorsey-tax-exemption-bitcoin-transactions" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Jack Dorsey urges tax-free status for ‘everyday’ Bitcoin payments</a>
<h2 id="peer-to-peer-technology-as-a-tool-of-freedom">Peer-to-peer technology as a tool of freedom</h2>
Peer-to-peer technology is emerging as a tool for political opposition movements fighting against the monopoly on force wielded by state governments.
The trucker convoy protesters who demonstrated against the Canadian government’s COVID-19 restrictions in 2022 turned to Bitcoin after the government <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/canada-use-of-law-freezing-protesters-crypto-donations-unconstitutional" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">froze their bank accounts</a> and funding sources. A federal judge later ruled that the action was unconstitutional.
Canada’s government was also able to seize about five BTC sent to the protesters over centralized channels, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/freedom-convoy-cryptocurrency-asset-seizure-1.6389601" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">according</a> to CBC News.
However, the majority of more than 20 BTC sent to the protesters was never seized by Canadian authorities because it was sent through decentralized, peer-to-peer methods, making the funds immune to confiscation.
<figure>
 <img alt="Decentralization, P2P, Venezuela, Freedom, P2P Payments, P2P Networks, Nobel Prize, Bitcoin Adoption" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-09/0199364a-0dd1-7d5e-8485-2f481889c54e" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Protestors in Nepal overthrew the government following a social media ban in the country. Source: <a href="https://x.com/YourAnonCentral/status/1965450052291489860" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Anonymous</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
In September, protesters in Nepal <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/48000-nepalis-install-jack-dorseys-bitcoin-amid-protests" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">turned to Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat application</a>, a peer-to-peer encrypted messaging network that uses Bluetooth to form a communication mesh, amid a government shutdown of social media.
Bitchat turns each phone connected through the Bluetooth mesh network into a relay node for messages and does not rely on the internet, meaning it can function during a complete internet blackout.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/tezos-blockchain-arthur-breitman-calls-bitcoin-funny-internet-money/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin is ‘funny internet money’ during a crisis: Tezos co-founder</a>

Bitcoin advocate, human rights activist María Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize

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