Freedom Tech Policy Hour 🇺🇸 Freedom Tech DC brought Bitcoin, open-source AI, and individual control into the same policy conversation. In this episode, @zackcohen_, @Bayman11771, and @zackbshapiro recap the conference and discuss how to address AI risks without concentrating control in a few companies or governments. During the episode, they dig into the difference between AI safety and security, the privacy tradeoffs of personal AI agents, and what Chinese open models mean for U.S. competition. Chapters: 0:00 Freedom Tech DC: Bitcoin and open-source AI 3:55 AI risk without concentrating power 8:30 Sovereign infrastructure and Clarity 14:49 AI consciousness, safety and security 30:35 Frontier labs, regulation and government power 36:50 AI agents: usefulness and privacy 43:31 Mistral and open-model release strategies 46:06 Distillation and U.S.-China competition 50:54 Can American open-source AI compete?

Freedom Tech DC: Plural AI as a Freedom Technology with @ramez - A single dominant AI is not inevitable - Open models and falling costs can put powerful AI in more hands - Regulation shouldn't lock out competitors and concentrate intelligence - Cyber defenders need capable AI to find and fix vulnerabilities - The open-source community needs shared training tools, security work and a voice in policy (00:00) — Introduction & Why Plural AI Matters (01:21) — Who Controls Information Technology? (04:35) — Why AI Is Plural (08:50) — Threats to Competition (09:26) — The Limits of Recursive Self-Improvement (12:42) — Safety, Alignment & Control (16:36) — AI for Cyber Defense (18:02) — Four Calls to Action for the Open-Source Community

Freedom Tech DC: After Clarity -- Lessons for AI Policy with @patrickjwitt and @Bayman11771 - Legislation can give digital assets more durable rules than agency action alone - AI agents and digital payments make a clear federal framework increasingly urgent - Educating Congress is cumulative: a legislative setback does not erase what lawmakers learned - Open-source developer protections safeguard privacy, autonomy and self-custody alongside innovation - Bitcoin reserve and crypto tax provisions could find a path through reconciliation, but the prospects remain uncertain (00:00) — Introduction (01:08) — What comes after the CLARITY setback? (02:17) — AI agents, payments and regulatory durability (03:56) — Lessons from educating Congress (06:54) — How AI companies engage with policymakers (08:54) — Open-source developers and civil liberties (11:47) — Reserve, crypto tax and reconciliation prospects

Freedom Tech DC: Future of BPI with @DavidZell_, @BitcoinConner, and @janessalopez__ - AI policy could become the next battleground for Bitcoin self-custody and civil liberties - Open-source AI can help Bitcoin developers find and patch security vulnerabilities - AI agents will need access to peer-to-peer payments without relying on a handful of intermediaries - Policy research needs clear stories and hands-on education to reach busy congressional staff (00:00) — BPI’s origins and mission (02:28) — Why Freedom Tech DC? (05:29) — From a blog to a policy institute (10:11) — How BPI’s approach to policymaker education evolved (14:14) — Why Bitcoin and open AI belong together (17:53) — Bitcoin security, AI agents, and the freedom to transact (21:16) — What success looks like in five years

Freedom Tech DC: Freedom Tech in the Hands of Activists with @AnyaChekhovich and @arshmolu - Restrictions on open-source tools can weaken freedom fighters abroad - Activists need AI tools that protect their personal information and sensitive data - Bitcoin helped Navalny’s foundation keep operating after its bank accounts were blocked - Bitcoin funds legal support for political prisoners and humanitarian aid in Russia (00:00) — Introduction (00:59) — Anna’s work with Navalny’s foundation (01:56) — Banking restrictions and Bitcoin (03:12) — Finding the global activist community (06:36) — Teaching NGOs to use Bitcoin (09:57) — AI enters activists’ daily work (12:17) — AI privacy and sensitive information (13:39) — What policymakers should understand

Freedom Tech DC: Inside BPI International with @BitcoinConner, @Joeyg_poh, and @EugeniaBKenny - International policy standards can affect Bitcoin users everywhere - Policymakers need to distinguish Bitcoin from other digital assets - Restrictions on self-hosted wallets risk creating a two-tier system - Bitcoin policy can support consumer protection in the UK and strategic resilience in Taiwan (00:00) — Introduction (00:57) — Xapo and international regulatory work (02:05) — How U.S. policy affects the global landscape (04:47) — Why BPI’s mission extends across borders (07:05) — The education gap and a two-tier ecosystem (09:43) — Openness as a policy principle (12:04) — Lessons from the UK and Taiwan (14:42) — Making regulatory conversations constructive

Freedom Tech DC: The Stakes of Preserving Dollar Dominance with @DavidBeckworth and @SamLyman33 - Dollar stablecoins can extend the dollar’s global reach through private competition - Limited-purpose Fed accounts could give stablecoin issuers direct access to payment rails - Tokenized Fed reserves could enable settlement around the clock - Stablecoins separate payments from lending, creating room for new providers alongside banks - Tokenized Treasuries could open the market to more participants and expand trading capacity (00:00) — Introduction (01:28) — Stablecoins and dollar dominance (02:21) — The global digital-currency race (04:59) — Why private competition matters (06:21) — Stablecoins and Fed master accounts (08:18) — Tokenization and the Fed’s balance sheet (10:14) — What stablecoins mean for banks (13:08) — Tokenized Treasuries and market access

Freedom Tech DC: The Case for the American Reserve Modernization Act with @RepNickBegich and @APompliano - ARMA would establish a permanent U.S. Bitcoin reserve with a 20-year hold - The bill would protect individuals’ right to hold their own keys - States could choose to use the federal custody framework - Consolidating government Bitcoin holdings and verifying reserves would make the reserve more transparent and accountable (00:00) — Introduction (00:47) — The reserve modernization proposal (02:21) — A 20-year hold and limits on sales (03:45) — Protecting individual self-custody (04:51) — Custody options for states (07:57) — Begich’s Mt. Gox experience (11:20) — Government holdings and reserve audits (13:20) — Bitcoin’s role in government reserves

Freedom Tech DC: 21st Century Freedom Runs on Code with @intangiblecoins - The freedom to transact and the freedom to prompt protect individual agency - Publishing code alone should not make developers responsible for others' misuse - Local AI models preserve access and let people ask private questions - AI can create digital abundance, but it cannot override Bitcoin's supply rules (00:00) — Introduction (01:32) — The freedom to transact and prompt (02:42) — Lessons from the crypto wars (04:31) — Financial exclusion and developer protections (05:54) — Applying the principle to AI (06:21) — Who controls access to intelligence? (07:43) — Hosted models, local models, and privacy (08:20) — Digital abundance and digital scarcity

Freedom Tech DC: Strategic Case for Open Source with @yeahfortommy and @MattBurtell - What is Hermes Agent? - Open-source tools like Hermes Agent let users own their data and switch model providers - Open models are narrowing the gap with publicly available closed models - Restrictions on distillation risk leaving U.S. open-source AI behind China - Lower costs and more competition can bring capable AI to small businesses (00:00) — Introduction and Hermes Agent (01:55) — Why open agent harnesses matter (04:44) — Open models, closed models, and the value of applications (07:54) — Who gets access to frontier AI? (10:34) — Distillation and U.S. AI policy (13:23) — The economics of AI for small businesses (14:39) — Where the market goes next (17:57) — What policymakers should protect