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U.S. State Department launches Freedom Tech Excellence Program with Bitcoin
The program will embed limited term private sector staff at the State Department to shape diplomacy on digital freedom issues including encryption, online surveillance and AI governance.
The U.S. State Department is launching the Freedom Tech Excellence Program, an initiative designed to advance digital freedom worldwide and to include Bitcoin alongside privacy enhancing technologies and encryption, according to Bitcoin Magazine.
The program will work with the Bitcoin Policy Institute, data analytics firm Palantir Technologies, defense technology company Anduril Industries, and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Participants are expected to focus on five priority areas, including First Amendment and free expression protections in the digital age, countering unlawful digital surveillance and online scams, and privacy enhancing technologies such as strong encryption and VPNs.
The initiative also calls for responsible governance of emerging technologies including AI, and safeguarding children and other users online. Bitcoin Magazine reports that the Freedom Tech Excellence Program will operate through limited term assignments that place private sector personnel inside the State Department on temporary embeds to shape diplomatic efforts tied to specific digital freedom issues.
Bitcoin Magazine further notes that the inclusion of the Bitcoin Policy Institute signals the department sees Bitcoin and blockchain as tools for circumnavigating censorship and financial surveillance in authoritarian states. The outlet also points to President Trump signing an executive order in March 2025 that established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, capitalized with roughly 200,000 Bitcoin already held by the government through criminal and civil forfeiture.
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