In this episode of the Bitcoin Magazine Podcast, Dave Hollerith talks with Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation about China’s President Xi Jinping publicly expressing admiration for blockchain technology. This news drove the bitcoin price at the beginning of November 2019, but Gladstein is wary about what China’s public praise could mean for cryptocurrency in general.

Gladstein recognizes that blockchain technology by itself is really just a mechanism for control and surveillance of financial data. He believes, from a human rights perspective, that the real value of blockchains comes from decentralization, which is essential to democracy. He stated that Bitcoin is the greatest example of a decentralized blockchain and that, in the wrong hands, this technology would be used as a tool for tyranny instead of for freedom.

Follow Gladstein and Hollerith on Twitter. Read more about the issues discussed in this episode here:

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