The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner who defeated Trump, also has a connection to Bitcoin?

Original Title: Bitcoin is the currency of resistance, says Nobel Laureate

Original Author: Byron Gilliam, Blockworks

Original Translator: AididiaoJP, Foresight News

Maria Corina Machado received the news of her Nobel Peace Prize while in hiding.

The "Iron Lady of Venezuela" and "Latin America's Joan of Arc" has been in hiding since Nicolas Maduro threatened to subject her to "utmost justice" following the 2024 election, which unequivocally showed her as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

Machado reported that since then she has survived assassination attempts and kidnapping but has refused to leave the country.

She sent her three children to safe locations abroad but chose to stay herself. According to the Nobel Committee, "This choice has inspired millions."

It is an example that should resonate beyond Venezuela: "Maria Corina Machado has shown that the tools of democracy are also tools of peace," the committee added.

Machado says one of these tools is Bitcoin.

She told the Human Rights Foundation that the Maduro regime "weaponized the financial system to use against its people" and cited the malignant hyperinflation that reached as high as 10,000,000% at one point in 2018.

Since 2008, the Venezuelan government has removed 14 zeros from its national currency, meaning that today it takes 100 trillion bolivars to buy what 1 bolivar could buy in 2008, to confiscate the savings of its citizens.

"Holding a bag of candy is worth far more than having a bag of national currency," said one Venezuelan who has been stripped of his possessions, "because candy can hold its value."

Machado advocates that Bitcoin is a better, lower-cost store of value: "Some Venezuelans have found a lifeline in Bitcoin, using it to protect their wealth and fund their escape."

However, Machado herself uses it not to escape.

"Our campaign operates without bank channels," Machado said. Yet, they can still accept donations: "Unlike bank transfers that are typically blocked by the regime, Bitcoin donations cannot be confiscated."

In this sense, Bitcoin has helped Juan Guaidó lead the opposition against Maduro within Venezuela.

It has enabled many other Venezuelans to survive and resist Maduro.

"Bitcoin has bypassed the government-imposed exchange rate and helped many of our people," added Guaidó. "It has evolved from a humanitarian tool to a critical resistance mechanism."

Another protesting Venezuelan, Jorge Hrayssati from the Economic Inclusion Organization, stated that this has made Bitcoin part of a "technical strategy" against authoritarianism.

"The key to defeating a dictatorial regime lies in citizens being universally able to access free technologies like Bitcoin, Signal, and Nostr," he wrote.

Bitcoin has particularly endowed his compatriots with the "ability to overcome Maduro's financial control and repression."

Many places around the world live in similar oppressive environments.

Alex Gladstein from the Human Rights Foundation estimates that "87% of humanity is born into either a dictatorship or a collapsing fiat system."

He explains that in much of the world, "the traditional banking system is no longer adequate to effectively fund democratic work."

However, Bitcoin is maintaining resilience in those places where government-issued currencies "cannot be used for basic human rights activities."

Gladstein states that Bitcoin is increasingly becoming the currency of these activities and is moving towards becoming the standard currency for "human rights activism and other fields by 2030."

We are accustomed to seeing Bitcoin's grand $2030 price target, but can it achieve a larger activism goal?

If it does, the Nobel Committee may receive praise for its contribution.

Gladstein points out that "the vast majority of Bitcoin critics live in the United States or Europe and are blinded by immense financial privilege."

By awarding a dedicated user the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee could help dispel biases and improve Bitcoin's image in the 13% of the world where it is not needed (except as an investment).

For Guaidó, the main benefit of the Nobel Peace Prize is that she will be safer once she becomes more prominent.

"It raises her profile and increases the cost of attempting to suppress and destroy her," explained Gideon Ross from the Foreign Relations Committee. "By granting her effort this kind international recognition, the Nobel Prize could safeguard her life."

So, for Bitcoin, the significance of this award is that Machado has also given her goodwill approval to the often-maligned cryptocurrency, which may protect it from critics' attacks.

Because only dictators like Maduro would oppose free technology.

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