3 Lessons From The Oslo Freedom Forum: Bitcoin As A Tool

The Oslo Freedom Forum delivered some of the most thought-provoking ideas about what makes bitcoin special and valuable beyond mere price. And luckily, the organizers cut these one-minute videos for us to consume said ideas. And even luckier still, Bitcoinist decided to echo them and paint a different picture of the asset our publication is named after.

We’ve already featured people from all over the world – one, two, three – and this new trio is not different. Each one will make a surprising point about the bitcoin network that will seem obvious from now on. The Oslo Freedom Forum made bitcoin thought-leaders see the situation from a different perspective. Let’s read what they came up with.

BTC price chart for 07/05/2022 on Binance | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

Oslo Freedom Forum: Jack Mallers On Bitcoin As Rails

Strike’s CEO and bitcoin wonderboy, Jack Mallers has explained before the possibilities that an open network like bitcoin brings. This time, though, he adapts to the Oslo Freedom Forum audience and elaborates and goes into the censorship-resistant qualities it has. 

“We think of it as the global payment standard for the world. Think of it this way. There’s an open, accessible set of instructions that if you integrate these instructions, you are interconnected with the entire planet. To settle value at the speed of light and at no cost. And no one can tell you otherwise. And no one can deplatform you. And if you want to use it, you have every right. If you don’t, you don’t have to. But if you need to, you can. And that is the tremendous property that Bitcoin enables.”

11/ Privacy advocate @J9Roem on why a money for the world must pass the censorship test: pic.twitter.com/P7kvCq3ZGr

— Alex Gladstein ???? ⚡ (@gladstein) June 22, 2022

Oslo Freedom Forum: Janine Roem On Censorship Resistance

Janine Roem – Cypherpunk, journalist, and privacy educator – elaborates on the censorship-resistant idea. She also explains the concept that bitcoin is “money for enemies” to the Oslo Freedom Forum. 

“Talking about censorship, whenever I evaluate any digital currency, or any kind of money even if it’s not digital I look at whether it passes what I call the censorship test, which is if you have an organization that is being targeted by, for example, a nation state or in that case specifically a group of nation states, because they are using their speech rights in a way that they do not agree with the states do not agree with then those states may attempt to stop them by seizing their money, blocking them from receiving any money, or blocking individuals from being able to send them money and so any kind of money system where that is possible, regardless of your opinion is on a particular organization.”

You already know that there’s only one asset that meets those standards. Only one asset in the history of the world. 

“I feel that it is important to have a monetary system where it passes that test and that’s why and is the central reason I got interested in Bitcoin because it passes that test since 2011. It’s been passing that test even at a time when it was relatively small so I would expect any kind of CBDC to pass that test and if it doesn’t I say I am not interested.”

12/ @Okcoin CEO Hong Fang (@hfangca) on how Bitcoin differs from the legacy financial system: pic.twitter.com/gulYsmOKby

— Alex Gladstein ???? ⚡ (@gladstein) June 22, 2022

Oslo Freedom Forum: Hong Fang On Bitcoin As A Free Monetary System

Hong Fang, CEO of the OKcoin exchange, reminisces and tells the Oslo Freedom Forum about the moment she decided to join the bitcoin space. This new asset class’ unprecedented characteristics change the rules of the game. And, considering the game was rigged to begin with, this can only be positive for the industry. 

“But what I learned when I was at Goldman, particularly during the financial crisis, there’s an element of imbalance, an element of unfairness in the system, in the current system where we are talking about free markets. There was something that was not totally free, and I didn’t realize that until in 2016 when I came across Bitcoin, when I realized, okay, this is something that represents a free monetary system that has never been done before in the way that it was designed. Where the money is not created by any government, is not backed by any government or any central organization, but somehow can help people form consensus, thereby enable value transmission on a large scale between individuals. That in itself was unprecedented and can actually help us fix things. That’s how me personally got into Bitcoin. And I got into the space.”

Those are enough dangerous ideas for today. Join Bitcoinist soon for more philosophical action from the Oslo Freedom Forum’s streets. 

Featured Image: Hong Fang screenshot from this video | Charts by TradingView