Financial Freedom Report #90

Good morning, readers!

In Thailand, the central bank froze more than 3 million Thai bank accounts and imposed daily transfer limits in a bid to reduce online scams. The heavy-handed approach offers a glimpse into how broad state financial measures can unintentionally lead to financial repression and cut Thais off from their own money.

Meanwhile, in India, a leaked government document reveals plans to avoid a full regulatory framework for digital assets. Officials, desperate to trap people inside the rupee, fear granting Bitcoin “legitimacy.” For now, the absence of a sweeping framework leaves space for grassroots Bitcoin adoption to grow, but only if the state refrains from further crackdowns.

In freedom tech news, usage of Bitchat increased in Nepal after the government blocked 26 major social media platforms during youth-led anti-censorship protests. The open-source app transmits messages over Bluetooth mesh networks and provides a Tor-powered, private, offline way to communicate. This is useful during protests when traditional platforms are blocked or when authoritarian regimes restrict Internet access. In Nepal, it saw more than 50,000 downloads in a single day.

We close with an interview on the F-Squared Podcast with Catherine Karimi Gichunge, who recounts how one of Africa’s largest mobile money systems M-Pesa, was built. M-Pesa has laid the groundwork for new Bitcoin payment tools like Tando that are now helping Africans spend Bitcoin as day-to-day money.

Now, let’s examine the full picture.

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GLOBAL NEWS

Thailand | Freezes Accounts and Imposes Transfer Limits

In an effort to reduce online financial scams, the Bank of Thailand froze more than 3 million bank accounts. It also set strict daily transfer limits for citizens, ranging from 50,000 to 200,000 baht ($1,500 to $6,000). This comes after suffering nearly 6 billion baht ($189 million) in damages from online scams in recent months. The freeze has left many online creators, small businesses, and foreign residents unable to access funds or process payments. The heavy-handed approach caused panic withdrawals and confusion. It offers a glimpse into how broad state measures against fraud can unintentionally lead to financial repression, cutting Thais off from their own money.

India | Government Opposes Complete Digital Asset Framework

According to a leaked document seen by Reuters, India’s government is avoiding a comprehensive digital asset framework to prevent regulation from legitimizing the sector and creating systemic risks. The document highlights the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) view that an outright ban can address the most “alarming” risks of digital assets. But it does little to address the use of peer-to-peer trades and decentralized exchanges. Currently, digital asset exchanges in India are required to register with a state agency and undergo extensive audits. Individuals buying and selling Bitcoin also face punitive taxes. Digital assets inherently threaten the dominance of India’s Unified Payments Interface and the expansion of its CBDC, the digital rupee. But the positive side is that, absent heavy regulation, grassroots education and organic adoption of Bitcoin could continue to grow.

Russia | St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport Accepts CBDC Payments

St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport in Russia has started accepting payments in the country’s digital ruble CBDC. The pilot program comes as Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship delays its public launch of the CBDC until 2026, with full deployment expected in 2028. Even as officials move forward with the rollout, scams exploiting the CBDC are quickly emerging. Russian citizens report being offered to convert their money into digital rubles at favorable rates. Others are pressured into transferring savings into new digital wallets or even threatened with fake tax fines payable only in the CBDC. These scams expose both the inexperience of the CBDC system and the risks Russians face: a digital currency meant for total state oversight and granular financial control, yet already riddled with exploitation.

DR Congo | Rebel-Controlled Bukavu Operates on Damaged Banknotes

Bukavu is a city in eastern Congo seized by dictator Paul Kagame-backed M23 rebels earlier this year. When the rebel group took control, Congolese officials shut down the city’s banks, cutting off access to new currency and creating a severe cash shortage. With most individuals and families paid in cash, residents are surviving with hole-punched and taped-together banknotes once marked for destruction. A black market quickly formed where old bills trade for new ones at rates as steep as 10-to-1. “We keep these banknotes because we don’t know what else to do; it’s just to help each other out,” Ruboneka Mirindi Innocent, one of several locals now working as makeshift money changers, said. The local nonprofit Kiveclair is providing Congolese citizens with Bitcoin education and a pathway to financial freedom when neither the state nor rebels can provide stability.

Nigeria | Enhanced Oversight of Digital Assets

At a banking conference in Abuja, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu instructed regulators to strengthen oversight of stablecoins and digital assets. He warned that Nigerians are increasingly turning away from traditional banking systems. The directive follows the 2025 Investment and Securities Act, which classified digital assets as securities and granted the Securities and Exchange Commission broad authority to license and oversee exchanges under rules more suited for traditional finance. This move could indicate tighter digital asset restrictions for tens of millions of unbanked Nigerians who stand to benefit from permissionless money. Instead of adapting to open, decentralized assets, the Nigerian regime risks enforcing ill-suited regulations, potentially driving innovation and financial freedom further underground.

RECOMMENDED CONTENT

The Untold Story of M-PESA with Catherine Karimi Gichunge

In this episode of the F-Squared Podcast, Catherine Karimi Gichunge, a member of the original M-Pesa team, shares how the mobile money service was created. M-Pesa is Kenya’s digital money system that lets people send, receive, and store funds using basic phones and their phone numbers. Gichunge explains M-Pesa’s beginnings as a microfinance loan tool, the discovery of peer-to-peer transfers during the pilot, and the difficulties of launching with few agents and limited infrastructure. Her story also underscores how M-Pesa laid the infrastructure for new Bitcoin tools in Africa, such as Tando, which are now building on that foundation.

BITCOIN AND FREEDOM TECH NEWS

Bitchat | Surges Amid Social Media Bans and Protests

When Nepal’s government blocked 26 major social media platforms earlier this month, thousands of young people flooded the streets to protest censorship and corruption. At the same time, they found a new way to connect: Bitchat, an open-source, offline, and encrypted messaging app vibe-coded by Jack Dorsey and Calle. In anticipation of a complete Internet blackout, nearly 50,000 Nepalis downloaded the app in a single day. It doesn’t require phone numbers, servers, or Internet access. Instead, Bitchat uses Bluetooth mesh networks to send messages locally from phone to phone. This makes it an accessible and uncensorable communication tool during shutdowns and censorship from governments of all kinds. And its sudden popularity in Nepal marks one of the clearest demonstrations yet of freedom tech in action.

Fedimint | Launches E-Cash App

Fedimint developers launched the E-Cash App, a Bitcoin wallet built on the federated custody protocol. It combines Lightning, on-chain, and Chaumian ecash payments into a single wallet. Its support for ecash provides optionality for greater financial privacy than on-chain Bitcoin. And the federated custody model distributes trust among community members rather than a single custodian. It also includes Lightning Address support, Nostr Wallet Connect, federation discovery, and automatic seed-based backups. For activists and civil society groups, this wallet model can help them pool and store funds communally while providing private, censorship-resistant payments in adverse political and economic environments.

Banxaas | Expands Bitcoin Access to Côte d’Ivoire

Banxaas, a platform that bridges Bitcoin with West Africa’s mobile money networks, is in the process of adding Côte d’Ivoire for two-way trades. This means Ivorians will soon be able to buy and sell Bitcoin directly using the CFA franc (XOF) and their own Lightning wallets. In a region where the CFA system still binds hundreds of millions under monetary control by authoritarian regimes, Banxaas can potentially provide an on- and off-ramp to Bitcoin. The expansion can bring greater access to censorship-resistant savings and payments outside the reach of state and central bank control.

Chipper Cash | Lightning Network at Scale in Africa

African fintech giant Chipper Cash is a mobile payment and financial services platform. It just shared that more than half of its Bitcoin transactions now run over the Lightning Network. This marks one of the largest real-world deployments of the Lightning Network to date. To do so, Chipper uses infrastructure provider Voltage to enable Lightning payments and deliver near-instant, low-cost transactions to users where legacy rails are so often unavailable, censored, or surveilled by autocratic governments.

Cake Wallet | Launches Cupcake App

Cake Wallet has launched Cupcake, a free and open-source app that turns any spare phone or tablet into an air-gapped (offline) cold storage wallet for Bitcoin. The setup is simple: your offline Cupcake device holds the private keys, while your main Cake Wallet (on another device) can view balances and broadcast signed transactions via QR codes. At no cost, Cupcake removes entry barriers to airgapped devices. For dissidents, it could provide a way to safeguard funds against confiscation or censorship while expanding access to self-custody anywhere in the world.

Provable Cryptography for Bitcoin | New Workbook

A new educational resource titled Provable Cryptography for Bitcoin: An Introduction was released by Bitcoin researcher Jonas Nick. It offers a structured workbook to learn Bitcoin security definitions and proofs through hands-on exercises. The workbook emphasizes provable security to help students and developers understand how cryptographic assumptions are defined, modeled, and proven within Bitcoin’s design. The resource also includes solutions, making it accessible for both self-study and classroom use. Equipping developers in dictatorships with a stronger grasp of Bitcoin’s cryptographic foundations strengthens confidence in its freedom properties and ensures builders can rigorously evaluate new protocols and proposals.

RECOMMENDED CONTENT

Bitcoin and Human Rights: Building Freedom Networks with HRF and the Bitcoin Students Movement

In this conversation, HRF’s Financial Freedom Operations Lead, Arsh Molu, shares his views and experiences with Bitcoin as a tool for financial freedom and human rights with University of British Columbia professor Jarrett Vaughan. Molu discusses how HRF’s Bitcoin Development Fund helps channel support toward permissionless technologies, education initiatives, and dissidents in authoritarian regions. He also discusses his work co-founding the Bitcoin Student Network, where he engages with and supports Bitcoin-curious students worldwide. Watch it here.

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