Originally published under the title "15 quotes about the potential of blockchain and cryptocurrency"

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From stablecoins to microloans, tokenized carbon credits, and local currencies, to better community coordination and governance, blockchain is fast entering an era of practical use that has been built on years of bold thinking, experimentation, and vision.

The 15 quotes that follow highlight how builders, policy leaders, and entrepreneurs are applying crypto and blockchain to expand access, improve coordination, and build infrastructure that better serves communities, bringing many of those early ideas and values into concrete practice. This compilation is a celebration of those efforts.

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1. “Bitcoin is the most important human rights technology of the 21st century.”
— Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer of Human Rights Foundation

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2. “Crypto is not just about trading tokens, it's part of a broader ethos of protecting freedom and privacy and keeping power in the hands of the little guy.”
— Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum

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3. “Cryptographic truth is a superior way for the entire world to operate. Once you experience the transparency, personal control and lower risks of a world powered by truth, rather than a world backed only by 'just trust us' ideas, you simply cannot go back.”
— Sergey Nazarov, Co-Founder of Chainlink

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4. “If you’re aiming to create a new financial infrastructure, then you have an opportunity to do that in a way where it actually has positive externalities on our planet and on our communities.”
— Rene Reinsberg, Co-Founder of Celo

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5. “Blockchain allows the unbanked or underbanked to participate in financial infrastructure to the extent and to the level that they want to.”
— Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation

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6. “By digitizing our currency, we hope to mobilize our economy and government processes to improve financial transactions and empower our citizens.”
— Surangel S. Whipps Jr., President of the Republic of Palau

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7. “We believe that when stablecoins are trusted, scalable and interoperable, they can fundamentally transform how money moves around the world.”
— Rubail Birwadker, Global Head of Growth Products, Visa

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8. “Crypto gives people economic freedom, ensuring access to their own money and fair participation in the economy ungated by powerful legacy institutions.”
— Brian Armstrong, Co-Founder and CEO of Coinbase

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9. “As donors push for greater transparency, there's going to be more of an argument around why blockchain can be beneficial for delivering and distributing humanitarian aid.”
— Ken Kou, Web3 Lead at Mercy Corps Ventures

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10. “The tech sector has a crucial role to play in helping humanitarian agencies innovate to deliver better aid to those people forced to flee… It is crucial to invest further to expand digital literacy and connectivity among displaced populations.”
— Kelly T. Clements, UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner

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11. “Blockchain is key in two ways. It provides radical traceability and transparency by logging every step on-chain, while crypto directs the proceeds to the communities who are often unbankable or financially excluded.”
— John Goedschalk, Founder of BioTara

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12. “What if instead of relying on governments, we had organizations competing to provide the public goods and services that are most in demand? [...] The world you are imagining is the world we are building towards at Giveth.”
— Griff Green, Co-Founder of Giveth

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13. “Our legacy institutions for supporting public goods often need to be more reputable, efficient, and centralized, with high administrative overheads. [...] What if we could build transparent, incorruptible, programmable, and permissionless coordination systems worldwide?”
— Kevin Owocki, Co-Founder of Gitcoin

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14. “Building a new financial system directly into the fabric of the internet unleashes benefits on multiple levels. It gives individuals more autonomy over their money, property and digital identity, giving people more control over their financial lives and personal data.”
— Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle

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15. “Blockchains automate away the center. Instead of putting the taxi driver out of a job, blockchain puts Uber out of a job and lets the taxi drivers work with the customer directly.”
— Vitalik Buterin, Co-Founder of Ethereum

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Let’s remember that the web3 movement has always been shaped not just by code, but by people willing to test new models for impact, often before the world was ready for them.

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