Although the efforts by Jack Dorsey focus on Bitcoin and more traditional options, the GoodDollar initiative has potential.
By: Chris Smith.
Original Post: https://knowtechie.com/how-jack-dorsey-and-gooddollar-both-envision-a-universal-basic-income-based-on-cryptocurrency/
The concept of a universal basic income (UBI) remains more relevant today than ever before.
A universal basic income would do good to millions of people, yet building the necessary infrastructure to roll it out remains tough to come by.
Jack Dorsey aims to push the pace on this narrative, and the DeFi industry may offer a helping hand.
The Universal Basic Income Concept
The idea to create a universal basic income, or UBI, is rather intriguing. It would give all citizens of a population recurring legally stipulated and equal financial grants, paid for by the government.
Whether implemented nationally, regionally, or locally, the end goal remains the same. A UBI would help people of low income achieve basic needs when they would otherwise be unable to do so.
Historically, there have been various attempts at creating a universal basic income. From the Roman Empire to early 20th century efforts, there is no shortage of ideas and proposals to make this a reality.
Unfortunately, it has never come to fruition on a large and long-term scale. Modern technologies and the support from business people like Elon Musk, Andrew Yang, and Jack Dorsey might help tip the scales.
Jack Dorsey Contributes Over $55 Million
Speaking of Jack Dorsey, the Twitter co-founder is keen on exploring UBI opportunities. More specifically, his idea is to create a universal basic income backed by Bitcoin.
Using the world’s leading cryptocurrency would make sense due to its transparent nature, code, and policy. Moreover, Dorsey is convinced fiat currency remains inefficient, whereas Bitcoin can facilitate more use cases.
For now, Dorsey’s initiative focuses on a closed-loop community of sellers and merchants who use Bitcoin. Eventually, the goal is to introduce the Bitcoin standard on a much broader scale.
Dorsey expects the action of owning Bitcoin to change people’s mindsets and positively impacts their communities to explore this option in the future.
To date, Dorsey has invested over $55 million into various universal basic income initiatives across the US and overseas. Most efforts do not involve using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, though.
However, some initiatives in the decentralized finance space can bring crypto-based UBI to millions of people in the coming years.
The GoodDollar Concept
DeFi protocol GoodDollar is focused on delivering a sustainable crypto UBI claimable by anyone. The project has almost 300,000 members worldwide and recently underwent a crucial protocol upgrade.
The universal basic income through the GoodDollar protocol provides a UBI in G$ token, governed by the GoodDAO.
Additionally, the protocol leverages liquidity mining rewards and yield farming to ensure capital keeps flowing toward GoodDollar to create a sustainable project. Members can stake in Compound or Aave to earn rewards and help fund the crypto UBI for all.
After acquiring the G$ token, holders can sell the asset in the GoodDollar Reserve. All minted G$ are used to reward stakers or distributed as universal basic income on the Fuse blockchain.
An initial test by eToro – they staked $58,000 – confirmed the money flow, demand, and end-user wallet application were viable.
Moreover, the recent v2 upgrade ensures liquidity supporters receive G$ rewards for staking, awards GOOD governance tokens, and introduces a Social APY.
Conclusion
Although the efforts by Jack Dorsey focus on Bitcoin and more traditional options, the GoodDollar initiative has potential.
There are multiple ways to tackle the concept of a UBI and how to distribute it to larger communities best.
Moreover, the role of cryptocurrencies in universal basic income discussions will only become more outspoken. Fiat currencies are necessary, but one can always convert from crypto to fiat when needed.
Saving some crypto by not converting the total amount right away will illustrate why this new form of money is so powerful.
