The BTC Coalition: Combating Financial Exclusion
Oppressive states tend to exclude their opponents from the financial system, a practice that lacks public scrutiny and facilitates the abuse of international legal cooperation. We have been addressing this issue since our banking contracts were terminated following politically motivated prosecution, legal assistance requests, and smear campaigns against us by authoritarian and hybrid regimes.
As a result, our organisation became a victim of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws. These regulations, adhered to by banks and other financial institutions, labeled us and our associates as high-risk clients. Similarly, autocrats target not only civil society watchdogs, but also opposition groups, political activists, diaspora leaders, inconvenient lawyers, journalists, and others by exploiting Western legal frameworks to extend their reach overseas.
The Building True Change Coalition (BTC Coalition), led by the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF), advocates for protecting fundamental rights and promoting financial inclusion. Its members include human rights defenders, political activists, Bitcoin entrepreneurs, and industry experts. The BTC Coalition aims to:
- Combat the misuse of AML/CFT regulations to commit transnational repression.
- Promote financial inclusion in non-democratic and developing countries.
- Support the use of Bitcoin and stablecoins for human rights and humanitarian efforts.
- Educate on Bitcoin mining as a means to promote renewable energy adoption.
In 2022-2023, with the financial support of industry leaders Obi Nwosu, Jack Dorsey, Mike Brock, and the Ukrainian Blockchain Association, the BTC Coalition held over 200 meetings with regulators and legislators across the EU, UK, USA, and Canada.
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The Open Dialogue Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation. Your donations may be tax-deductible, subject to applicable laws.
News
Defend PoW: Submission to ESMA
15 December 2023
BTC Coalition: summary of works 2022-2023
28 November 2023
Bitcoin’s role in Guatemala’s Digitally Safeguarded Democracy
10 November 2023
Open Dialogue Foundation at the 2023 OSCE WHDC
12 October 2023
TABConf2023: Bitcoin against transnational persecution
25 September 2023
Reports and other studies
Members
Lyudmyla Kozlovska
President of the Open Dialogue Foundation & Human rights defender from Ukraine
Bota Jardemalie
Human rights lawyer & defender from Kazakhstan, political refugee in Belgium
Anna Chekhovich
Financial director of Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation from Russia
Fadi Elsalameen
Democracy advocate from Palestine & adjunct senior fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute
Obi Nwosu
CEO & Founder of Fedi, former CEO of the first UK Bitcoin exchange
Farida Nabourema
Social activist & writer from Togo
Mike Brock
Chief Executive Officer at Block's TBD (USA)
Jorge Jraissati
Venezuelan activist & President, Organization for Economic Inclusion
Jaroslav Likhachevskiy
co-founder of the New Belarus platform & Bysol Foundation, director of the AI company Deepdee from Belarus
Jesús González
Venezuelan freedom fighter & coordinator of the Office of the Interim President Juan Guaido
Roya Mahboub
Afghan entrepreneur & philanthropist, CEO of Digital Citizen Fund
Ismail Mesut Sezgin
Turkish opposition political commentator
Mark Morton
Co-founder & Managing Director at Scilling Digital Mining (Ireland)
Suba Churchill
Executive Director of the Kenya National Civil Society Centre and Chairperson of the Horn of Africa Civil Society Forum
Tetiana Pechonchyk
Head of the Board of the Human Rights Center ZMINA
Michael Chobanian
President of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine and a founder of KUNA.io
Katarzyna Szczypska
Human Rights Activist, the Open Dialogue Foundation
Matt Carlsson
Master of Applied Science and Professional Engineer
Gracjan Pietras
Advocate & Partner at DJP (djp.pl), Columnist at iMagazine.pl
