Russia’s Alexei Navalny Receives 658 BTC To Take Down Putin

Russia’s Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader, received $300,000 in bitcoin this year alone in order to take down Putin which shows the role of the cryptocurrency in challenging authoritarian regimes so let’s read more about today’s latest BTC news.

This year, Navalny received about 6 BTC and analysts say that the recent surge is related to the general interest in BTC with Russia’s crypto liberalization and anger over Navalny’s detention. Russia’s Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader, received 658 BTC in donations since 2016 to launch a campaign against Vladimir Putin, and at today’s price, that BTC is worth $32 million. Navalny receives bitcoin donations as they provide a lifeline for the activists in Russia and are a great tool to subvert the authoritarian governments. Navalny’s campaign had most of its BTC sent to other wallets which means it could have been spent before it ever accrued any value. Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation Alex Gladstein said:

 “In authoritarian regimes like Russia, the government has total control over the banking system, but doesn’t control Bitcoin.”

Navalny was initially poisoned in Siberia in 2020 and he blamed Putin for it but the Kremlin denies any involvement. After he spent five months recovering in Germany, the government arrested him when he returned to Russia which led to protests in the country, demanding his release. Gladstein noted that the surge in BTC donations only reflects the general interest in BTC and the outrageous actions against him referring to imprisonment and poisoning.

The BTC donation surge follows a recent crypto liberalization in Russia since crypto is legally tradeable but cannot be used as an everyday currency.  Despite the current liberalization, the government of Russia pursued a rough policy on crypto involving jail sentences and bans on crypto-related sites like Binance. The London-based political analyst Filip Rambousek noted:

 “This follows the—now largely justified—view of the government that crypto presents a threat to the status quo.”

Public blockchain data shows that a Bitcoin address tied to Navalny received 3.5 Bitcoin at the end of January. The data shows Navalny’s team received more donations in Bitcoin in January than all of 2020https://t.co/ViL4q0lak4

— Pjotr Sauer (@PjotrSauer) February 12, 2021

Dmitry Buterin who is the father of Vitalik Buterin said that he made a plea to the ETH community to donate to Navalny’s movement. Rambousek continued:

 “Putin met Vitalik Buterin in 2017, and there was a sentiment among some that Russia could go big on crypto, but none of that has happened or is likely to happen.”

However, Vitalik’s father said that Putin is KGB and these are the people that already tortured and killed millions of Russians and Ukrainians. Rambousek explained:

 “Russia has a long track record of cyberwarfare like hackings or political bots, but the Kremlin doesn’t have a history of using it to pursue its goals. To the relatively old, 90s-crafted class of senior officials, this is a threat rather than an opportunity.”