newsycanuse

State Department to Debut Freedom Tech Program with Bitcoin Policy Institute, Palantir as Founding Partners

Department

Bitcoins

The U.S. State Department is launching a program that includes Bitcoin as a way to advance digital freedom worldwide. 

Named the Freedom Tech Excellence Program, the initiative will see the State Department work with the Bitcoin Policy Institute, data-analytics firm Palantir Technologies, defense technology company Anduril Industries, and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation on issues including online surveillance, encryption, AI governance, and protecting free expression online.

According to the program’s stated goals, participants will focus on five priority areas: First Amendment and free expression protections in the digital age; countering unlawful digital surveillance and online scams; privacy-enhancing technologies such as strong encryption and VPNs; responsible governance of emerging technologies including AI; and safeguarding children and other users online.

The inclusion of the Bitcoin Policy Institute signals that the Department views Bitcoin and blockchain technology as tools relevant to circumventing censorship and financial surveillance in authoritarian states — a theme the organization has long championed in its advocacy work.

The FTEP will operate through limited-term assignments, placing private sector personnel inside the State Department on temporary embeds tasked with shaping diplomatic efforts around specific digital freedom issues. 

President Trump campaigned on a ticket to help the crypto space and since taking office, his government has taken a more pro-crypto approach to both regulating and including elements of the space in his administration. 

In March 2025, for example, President Trump signed an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, capitalized with roughly 200,000 Bitcoin already held by the government through criminal and civil forfeiture. 

The order framed Bitcoin alongside strategic reserves the U.S. maintains for materials like gold, petroleum, and pharmaceuticals, treating it as a scarce national asset rather than merely a speculative one.

bitcoins Mathew Di Salvo

Mathew Di Salvo

Mathew is a reporter who’s covered the space since 2019, reporting on everything from Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele’s Bitcoin bet to crypto exchange FTX’s bankruptcy.

Mathew Di Salvo Read More

Latest

dividend

A 13% dividend is set to force another Bitcoin treasury company into the unthinkable: liquidating its BTC to pay cash

0
Image by CryptoSlate Cash covers about 18 months of the current run rate in a static calculation, while common issuance has already become a funding channel. Editor-in-Chief CryptoSlate Strive's SATA preferred stock had 7.83 million shares outstanding and a $782.95 million stated amount at June 30. At a 13% rate, SATA implies about $101.8 million
Everyone

Since Everyone LOOOOVES To Talk About Women’s Relationships, Here Are 9 Celebrity Men Who Have Been Engaged 3 (Yeah, 3!!) Or More Times

0
Look, I get it. When you're a big Hollywood star, it's probably hard to have a "normal" relationship. Everyone is nosy as hell, the pool of people you can relate to is small, and there are millions of eyes on you, waiting for the downfall of your relationship. So, when you meet someone who gets
asked

I Asked A Therapist For The Signs A Couple’s Headed For Divorce

0
According to research conducted by Dr John Gottman and Dr Julie Schwartz Gottman of the Gottman Institute, there are four “horsemen of divorce”: criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling. And Susie Masterson, a BACP-registered therapist, told HuffPost UK that warning signs of divorce aren’t usually as simple as issues like financial problems or different life goals.
Cinema

Cinema Without Borders: Quiet revolution — The Wolf

0
Updated on :  11 Aug 2026, 2:31 pm Sometimes the most radical and progressive of ideas can crop up and get navigated in the most traditional of bastions. That too without much hullabaloo; quietly and softly. Wancheng Gu and Prasad Shetty’s documentary, The Wolf , showcases one such trailblazing individual, Yuan, the former mayor of

Newsletter

Don't miss

dividend

A 13% dividend is set to force another Bitcoin treasury company into the unthinkable: liquidating its BTC to pay cash

0
Image by CryptoSlate Cash covers about 18 months of the current run rate in a static calculation, while common issuance has already become a funding channel. Editor-in-Chief CryptoSlate Strive's SATA preferred stock had 7.83 million shares outstanding and a $782.95 million stated amount at June 30. At a 13% rate, SATA implies about $101.8 million
Everyone

Since Everyone LOOOOVES To Talk About Women’s Relationships, Here Are 9 Celebrity Men Who Have Been Engaged 3 (Yeah, 3!!) Or More Times

0
Look, I get it. When you're a big Hollywood star, it's probably hard to have a "normal" relationship. Everyone is nosy as hell, the pool of people you can relate to is small, and there are millions of eyes on you, waiting for the downfall of your relationship. So, when you meet someone who gets
asked

I Asked A Therapist For The Signs A Couple’s Headed For Divorce

0
According to research conducted by Dr John Gottman and Dr Julie Schwartz Gottman of the Gottman Institute, there are four “horsemen of divorce”: criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling. And Susie Masterson, a BACP-registered therapist, told HuffPost UK that warning signs of divorce aren’t usually as simple as issues like financial problems or different life goals.
Cinema

Cinema Without Borders: Quiet revolution — The Wolf

0
Updated on :  11 Aug 2026, 2:31 pm Sometimes the most radical and progressive of ideas can crop up and get navigated in the most traditional of bastions. That too without much hullabaloo; quietly and softly. Wancheng Gu and Prasad Shetty’s documentary, The Wolf , showcases one such trailblazing individual, Yuan, the former mayor of
Excel

Excel works backwards from the answer you want, and it changed how I plan

0
Published Aug 11, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT Yasir is a Mechanical Engineer who writes about tech at MUO, covering Windows, Productivity, Security, and the Internet. His interest in autonomous systems keeps him constantly tinkering with both hardware and software. His tech writing journey began during his junior year of engineering, leading him to Android Police before
newsycanusehttps://newsycanuse.com

What small business owners say they’d do differently, in hindsight

Working 60+ hours a week makes owners twelve times more likely to say their business is hurting their personal life. Australian small business owners are working through illness, skipping holidays and struggling to step away from their businesses, according to new research from insurer BizCover. The survey of 1,500 BizCover small business customers found more
Read more

Bright young business brains bring ideas to life

Friday 17 July, 2026 Young Cumbrian entrepreneurs showed off their innovative business ideas, from AI virtual assistants to African food, at two celebration events this week. Fifteen young people from Furness and West Cumbria aged 14 to 25 were selected to take part in the Positive Enterprise programme back in January...
Read more

No, no, no — business travel is not dead. It’s still moving, and rather well at that

Par Bruno COURTIN Published on 7 Aug 2026 - Updated on 7 Aug 2026 3 min reading time According to forecasts from GBTA, the world's leading organisation representing business travel stakeholders, global business travel spending is set to hit a record $1.71 trillion in 2026, while the number of trips is expected to reach 1.84
Read more