What if the money in your pocket wasn’t a tool for freedom, but a mechanism for control? Inflation, surveillance, and financial exclusion actively shape who can save, speak, or participate in the global economy. Alex Gladstein joins the show to examine money as a human-rights issue, exploring how new digital tools are being used in places where traditional financial systems fail or are weaponized. Alex reframes money as a human-rights issue - tracing how digital currencies are reshaping power at the margins: enabling dissidents, protecting savings, and creating escape hatches from broken systems. It’s not about speculation or hype... it’s about sovereignty, repression, and what freedom actually looks like in a digitized global economy.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Introduction

(00:17) - Bitcoin as Freedom Money

(01:46) - The Need for Freedom Money

(04:04) - Global Financial Repression

(10:12) - Bitcoin's Resilience and Privacy

(20:00) - Case Studies and Real-World Impact

(23:03) - Bitcoin and the Future of Nation States

(25:01) - The Cost of War and National Debt

(25:36) - The Role of Banks in Government Spending

(27:06) - Bitcoin's Potential to Empower People

(27:36) - Dictators vs. Bitcoin

(28:51) - The Rise of Stablecoins

(29:43) - Bitcoin vs. Altcoins

(38:13) - Ethereum's Flaws

(40:39) - Bitcoin's Impact on Oppressed Nations

(44:43) - The Future of Bitcoin and Dictatorships

Referenced in the Show:

Alex Gladstein: https://alexgladstein.com/

Freedom Money Essay – https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/why-bitcoin-is-freedom-money/

Jacob Shapiro Site: jacobshapiro.com

Jacob Shapiro LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacob-l-s-a9337416

Jacob Twitter: x.com/JacobShap

Jacob Shapiro Substack: jashap.substack.com/subscribe

The Jacob Shapiro Show is produced and edited by Audiographies LLC. More information at audiographies.com

Jacob Shapiro is a speaker, consultant, author, and researcher covering global politics and affairs, economics, markets, technology, history, and culture. He speaks to audiences of all sizes around the world, helps global multinationals make strategic decisions about political risks and opportunities, and works directly with investors to grow and protect their assets in today’s volatile global environment. His insights help audiences across industries like finance, agriculture, and energy make sense of the world.

Money and Control

The Jacob Shapiro Podcast