Dr. Bradley Rettler explores how Bitcoin resists financial censorship in Part 1 of a two-part series on Bitcoin and financial freedom.

Censorship is usually thought of as the suppression of speech. A person is censored when they are unable to speak freely and say what they want to say. But more generally, a person can be said to be censored when they are unable to express their values. This could be oral speech, written speech, artistic expression, or financial expression. We express our values by what we exchange value for. When we donate, give, or purchase, we show what we value more than the money we’re giving away.

Financial censorship comes in several forms. There’s censorship of particular transactions, as when a bank or credit card company denies a particular transaction. There’s censorship of types of transactions, as when a bank or credit card company doesn’t allow transactions involving particular products or types of products. There’s censorship of individuals, as when a bank or credit card company doesn’t let you pay someone, or doesn’t let a particular entity make payments.

Censorship of particular transactions usually results as a matter of distrust or suspicion. A credit card transaction could be declined because it’s unusually large or in a place far from where the user lives. This can be inconvenient if you’re in a foreign country and needing to pay a taxi driver. But while the card belongs to you, the power to approve or decline the transaction resides entirely with the credit card company or bank.

...read more at btcpolicy.org