We hear a lot about how Bitcoin can be used as an investment tool, but sometimes use cases for the cryptocurrency around the world are a lot less complicated.
A report by Alyssa Hertig at Coindesk today chronicles some of the problems that younger Nigerians are having with a special police squad called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
Essentially, according to the reporting, some Nigerian police are shaking down citizens randomly, even entering their homes and rifling through their phones and paperwork for indications of how much money they have.
“While there are many principled police officers in Nigeria who help tackle crimes, police corruption is pervasive,” Hertig writes. “Many Nigerian police are known for extorting and even sometimes torturing citizens rather than helping them solve legal quandaries.”
This odd abusive scrutiny of income and assets has led some Nigerians to store away significant portions of their cash reserves in Bitcoin.
As mentioned in Hertig’s story, Bitcoin might not help unless the Bitcoin wallet is also carefully hid. Since police are basing their attention on a person’s net worth, they may be able to see evidence of Bitcoin assets even if those assets are harder to confiscate than fiat money
Still, calling bitcoin “unconfiscatable,” Hertig notes how this cryptocurrency can be a defense mechanism by citizens who live in a failed state where law enforcement is simply a kleptocracy.
As for the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, it has drawn quite a bit of attention from human rights advocates. Wikipedia calls it “a dreaded controversial unit of the Nigeria Police Force.”
Some go further.
“The complete failure of Nigerian authorities to bring an end to the gross human rights violations perpetuated by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad or to bring any SARS officer to justice is shocking and unacceptable,” says Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, in reporting from Amnesty. “Nigerians are outraged by the systemic human rights violations perpetrated by the SARS with impunity… The systemic use of torture and other ill treatment by SARS officers for police investigations and the continued existence of torture chambers within the Nigerian Police Force points to an absolute disregard for international human rights laws and standards.”
While the situation is appalling, the resourcefulness of some of these beleaguered citizens casts light on how BTC can be used as a force for good.
