Nobel Peace Prize winner 2025: Bitcoin is a "tool for resisting tyranny"

Opposition leader of Venezuela María Corina Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, marking a historic milestone as this prestigious award was given for the first time to a supporter of Bitcoin.

Machado, 58 years old, once shared that Bitcoin has become an “important means of resistance” for the people of Venezuela against the dictatorship and the severe economic collapse of the country. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine in September 2024, she stated:

“This financial oppression — stemming from looting, corruption, and the indiscriminate printing of money backed by the state — has occurred despite the abundant natural resources and a peak oil price of 147 USD per barrel in July 2008. Some Venezuelans have found a lifeline in Bitcoin amid hyperinflation.”

2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina MachadoMachado emphasized that Bitcoin has “evolved from a humanitarian tool into a symbol of resistance,” while revealing a vision for a democratic future where this digital currency could play a role in national reserves, helping to restore what the “dictatorial regime has stolen.”

After the news of her Nobel victory was announced, the cryptocurrency community expressed their admiration in unison.

“For the first time in history, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to a Bitcoin advocate,” wrote Jeff Park, Investment Director at ProCap on X.

Bradley Rettler, Director of the Bitcoin Research Institute at the University of Wyoming, also praised: “It is great to see Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado understand that Bitcoin is 'the money of resistance.'”

According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Ms. Machado was honored “for her tireless efforts to promote the democratic rights of the people of Venezuela and to fight for a fair, peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

President Nicolás Maduro, who has held power since 2013 with an iron fist, has banned Machado from participating in the 2024 presidential election. This election has been assessed by international observers as “undemocratic.”

Venezuela has long been regarded as a “laboratory” for cryptocurrencies. In the context of hyperinflation, currency controls, and international sanctions, the people have turned to using Bitcoin and stablecoins to protect their assets. According to a report by Chainalysis, Venezuela currently ranks fifth in the Latin American region in terms of total value of cryptocurrency transactions received — a testament to the increasingly prominent role of crypto in the informal economy of this country.

Thạch Sanh