Soapbox developed Agora.

At the 2026 Oslo Freedom Forum, the World Liberty Congress announced the launch of Agora, a new global platform aimed at enabling freedom movements, political prisoners, dissidents, and human rights defenders to obtain direct international fundraising support without depending on conventional financial intermediaries.

Developed by Soapbox and led by Venezuelan democracy advocate Leopoldo López in collaboration with the World Liberty Congress, Agora was designed to tackle one of the pressing issues for civil society: the increasing challenges activists and independent movements face in accessing worldwide funding systems.

The initiative emerged from partnership with the Human Rights Foundation's freedom technology program amid rising use of financial controls, censorship, and economic tactics by authoritarian regimes to marginalize dissidents and hinder democratic efforts.

Agora allows activists and groups globally to start campaigns and gain direct peer-to-peer assistance worldwide via Bitcoin infrastructure focused on durability, ease of access, and confidentiality. In contrast to standard crowdfunding sites, Agora frees activists from dealing with intricate banking setups, corporate validations, or location-based limits that frequently bar those requiring aid the most.

"We are seeing a unified attack on democratic values. Agora provides the foundation for a similarly unified support system in response," stated Leopoldo López.

Upon debut, Agora includes initiatives backing political prisoners and community human rights efforts from areas such as Uganda, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, and Palestine, in addition to those from the World Liberty Congress network.

The platform embodies an expanded goal of resilient infrastructure for civil society, permitting direct aid for human rights to cross borders with the same liberty as the concepts driving it.

"Countless individuals seek to protect freedom globally," noted M. K. Fain, Soapbox co-founder. "Solidarity has never been the issue. The barriers have been. Agora is here to overcome them."

Agora can be accessed now via the web at agora.spot and through the ZapStore for Android.

Media contact:
Mary Kate Fain
co-founder Soapbox
mk@soapbox.pub

SOURCE Soapbox