Garry Kasparov on Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Human Rights and Ukraine

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Russian chess grandmaster and Avast Security ambassador Garry Kasparov poses for a photo during… [+] an interview at Web Summit in Lisbon on November 3, 2021. – Europe’s biggest tech event, Web Summit, is being held at Parque das Nacoes in Lisbon from November 1-4. (Photo by CARLOS COSTA/AFP) (Photo by CARLOS COSTA/ AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

Interviewing Garry Kasparov before, we spent time talking about his support for bitcoin and his enthusiasm for marrying technology and human rights while chairing initiatives like the Human Rights Foundation, which hosts the Oslo Freedom Forum. Now, having interviewed him at the Collision conference which took place in Toronto in June 2022, the world is a very different place than where I last interviewed him. With the outbreak of war and the conflict between democratic and autocratic values ​​in broad daylight, it was time to ask him again what he thought of the state of the world.

These interview questions and answers are taken from a recorded transcript of our conversation together.

What do you think of the current state of the world and what seems to be the general rise of autocracy?

Now the future of autocracy and democracy depends on the outcome of the war [in Ukraine]. This is the front line of the war between freedom and tyranny and if Putin, God forbid, wins, well, we are entering the dark ages.

If Ukraine wins, I think it is the change of these negative tendencies, as you mentioned, of the rise of autocracy. It seems that the free world is gradually catching on to the idea that there is so much at stake in Ukraine. It’s not only Ukrainian sovereignty, it’s not its territorial integrity, but it’s the future. Because a war of this magnitude impacts every aspect of our lives and every corner of the world.

Now there are food issues in Africa and beyond, we have expectations on both sides. Everyone is watching. All dictators in the world are shaking now because if Putin loses, Putin is the spearhead of autocracy. Second, it will embolden freedom fighters in their countries (Author’s note: Since this interview, Iran, the People’s Republic of China, and other autocracies have seen significant protests).

What is the role of new technologies in the struggle for freedom, at least online?

You know, I don’t claim to be a tech expert. But I’m more, you know, just on the philosophy side of why I believe it’s necessary. Because technology is a tool. Technology is agnostic. That’s how we use it. So I think we’ve reached the point where we need to embrace all technologies that empower people.

Even though we have negative elements of technology: because oh, like BitcoinBTC and all cryptos, they can be used by bad guys for money laundering. Money laundering has been around since money was invented.

[…]

I want it [crypto] is part of the global struggle for empowered individuals and we are not just talking about the terrorist agenda of dictators, terrorists and all kinds of authoritarians.

We have to look very carefully at our own governments, they are benign, it is not a cancer, but every government is trying to gain more space at our expense.

And that’s why when you look at big investors and high government officials like the Fed, they always have negative comments about bitcoin, because they understand that it takes away their power, the power to control not just the macro economy, but basically to control our pockets.

They print more money and you know our savings are devalued. And all of a sudden there’s something that’s math-based, something that’s technology-based that’s leveling the playing field for you, me, and Warren Buffett.

What projects does the Human Rights Foundation work on?

For example for Belarus, for the demonstrations in Belarus. We raised a significant amount of money, around $5 million. […] We raised over $1 million through the HRF, and overall it was about $5 million. Again, it’s relatively small, in Ukraine you’re talking millions of dollars, but it’s a much larger scale.

But the idea is there. People have new ways to support good causes. […] We never stop working. You can watch the latest initiatives, one of them, we are supporting Afghan women, doing educational projects in Afghanistan today, this is one. Some of them are smaller, some of them are much bigger.

What do you think of central bank digital currencies like e-CNY/digital Yuan or digital dollar?

Digital currency, you know, needs to be decentralized. Otherwise, it is not a digital currency in the sense that we understand it. There will be attempts, not only from China to actually take it under control, but they go against the grain.

The Chinese have an old saying, who is smarter than the Prince de Talleyrand? (the foreign minister who served both the French monarchy and Napoleon I, and whose name has come to symbolize shrewd but cynical diplomacy). The whole world. […]Yes, China is powerful, the Chinese are powerful, but they are fighting the world.

They fight the winds of history. And it’s not the wisdom of the crowd or the money of the crowd. Eventually, the absolute numbers will be on this side. My daughter, she will be 16 in three months. So you know, let’s say in five years she’ll be 21. My son will be 12 years old.

And I mean for them, crypto will be even more natural than that. What is the dollar? I mean, it’s money disappearing. So you’re talking about online payments, payments made by credit cards. So we are already heading in that direction.

So the idea of ​​a dollar is becoming more and more vague. So they understand that payments are digital, and I think it’s for them that the transition from dollars to crypto will be, I think, very natural.

And I think it will be such a powerful push. Where it will come from is America or even China or African countries or Europe. There will be more and more young people who just won’t want to rent out our rights, our sovereign rights, to control our money to unelected officials.

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