The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is excited to announce that the HRF CBDC Tracker is a finalist for a 2024 Anthem Award in the Human & Civil Rights category.
A brainchild of the prestigious Webby Awards, the Anthem Awards celebrate mission-driven work that fosters global change and positive social impact in areas like human rights, diversity, and sustainability.
The CBDC Tracker, which has already been accepted into the SXSW 2025 program, is a vital resource for monitoring the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The tracker follows the development of CBDCs worldwide and gives insights into the risks they pose to financial privacy, autonomy, and individual freedoms within the context of each country, and in particular, in authoritarian regimes. You can read more about the Tracker here.
With less than one week left to vote, we encourage you to support our mission to spotlight the growing risks of CBDCs, especially under authoritarian regimes.
Here’s how you can vote
1. Visit the Anthem Awards website here.
2. Under the Human & Civil Rights category, search for CBDC Tracker.
3. Click on the “Celebrate” button.
4. A box will immediately pop up asking you to sign up (with your name and email address.) You also have the option to connect with a Google or Facebook account. Once you have done so, you will have voted.
5. Once you have voted, confirm your vote by clicking the verification link sent to the email you provided. Be sure to check your spam folder!
Your vote ensures this crucial issue receives the attention it deserves. On behalf of HRF’s Financial Freedom team, we thank you for taking the time to do so.
About HRF’s CBDC Tracker
Over the past year, HRF’s CBDC Tracker has established itself as a vital resource for monitoring the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The tracker follows the development of CBDCs worldwide and gives insights into the risks they pose to financial privacy, autonomy, and individual freedoms within the context of each country, and in particular, in authoritarian regimes.
Out of the 60 governments that have deployed or are piloting a CBDC, many are autocratic, including Belarus, China, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Turkey. 3.7 billion people — 45.6% of the world’s population — live under autocracies currently experimenting with CBDCs. It is alarming (and perhaps predictable) that authoritarian regimes like China and Nigeria are leading the charge on the deployment of CBDCs.
CBDCs establish a direct link between the government and individuals’ financial activities, introducing unprecedented levels of surveillance and control while eroding financial privacy. This centralization of economic power enables governments of all shapes and sizes to more easily engage in corruption, surveillance, and financial repression of citizens, activists, opposition leaders, and dissidents. Despite these risks, many citizens remain unaware of the potential threats that CBDCs pose to their human rights and civil liberties.
HRF’s CBDC Tracker plays an essential role in monitoring these developments and raising awareness about the global spread of CBDCs. Every single vote helps us spotlight the growing risks CBDCs pose worldwide.
If you’d like to learn more about CBDCs, you can watch this explainer video.
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies.
For further information about HRF’s impact litigation program, please email legal@hrf.org. For interview requests, please email media@hrf.org.