US State Department To Debut Freedom Program With Bitcoin

The new initiative wants to involve Bitcoin in protected freedom worldwide.

• The US State Department is launching the Freedom Tech Excellence Program, incorporating Bitcoin to advance digital freedom globally.
• The program focuses on areas like free expression, countering surveillance, privacy technologies, AI governance, and child protection, with a notable inclusion of the Bitcoin Policy Institute.
• This initiative reflects a pro-crypto stance, building on previous actions like establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, treating Bitcoin as a scarce national asset.

Topics: Political endorsements opposition, Blockchain usage, Institutional adoption, Pro innovation policy, Private enterprise ledgers, Onboarding prime brokerage

Tags: #bitcoin #digitalfreedom #usstatedepartment #freedomtechexcellenceprogram #bitcoinpolicyinstitute #palantirtechnologies #andurilindustries #censorship #financialsurveillance #strategicbitcoinreserve

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Bank of Korea Scales Up CBDC Pilot With Half a Million Users

Phase 1 of Project Hangang opened 81,000 wallets with 42% of them using the CBDC. Phase 2 is bigger, and this time it moves real government money.

• The Bank of Korea is expanding its Project Hangang CBDC pilot to 500,000 users, incorporating real government funds and new features like automatic top-ups and P2P transfers.
• The pilot aims to test government subsidy disbursements using programmable tokens and assess if deposit token payments can reduce interchange fees for merchants.
• Concerns are raised about the programmability of CBDCs, with critics highlighting potential for financial surveillance and control, contrasting with the US's recent ban on CBDC issuance.

Topics: Jurisdictions, Blockchain usage, Institutional adoption, Regulatory sandboxes pilots, Private enterprise ledgers, Banking depository pilots

Tags: #cbdc #bankofkorea #projecthangang #digitalwon #programmabletokens #pilotprogram #financialsurveillance #deposittokens #southkorea

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