Global Income Coin, a crypto non-profit company, has secured $2 million to launch a new cryptocurrency that aims to provide a universal basic income of $1 a day to any person in the world.
The funding comes from a personal donation of Sid Sijbrandij, co-founder and CEO of GitLab, and will be used to help fund operations, expand the team and perform R&D.
Global Income Coin is led by co-founders Jeffrey Milewski, Garm Lucassen and Jasper Driessens. Its mission is to help solve extreme poverty worldwide by generating a universal basic income of $1 a day available to everyone on earth.
Funding for the UBI will not depend on charitable donations, but will instead be sustained by the economic activity of a new cryptocurrency.
Later this year, Global Income Coin plans to launch a new cryptocurrency, GLO, an alternative to fiat currencies such as the dollar, euro and yen. Global Income Coin will incentivise consumers and businesses to use GLO for payments. The more GLO is used as money, the more UBI it generates.
“Global wealth levels suggest that we should be able to eradicate poverty if we work together. Global Income Coin can be a major, systemic part of the solution,” said CEO Milewski, an academic with a background focused on economics, finance and blockchain.
“Blockchain technology can enable a fairer system for the distribution of wealth, allowing for greater equality of income at a global scale. In the current monetary system, governments capture all profits from central bank money creation.
“We envision a shift to a system where people pluck the fruits of economic growth directly and irrespective of their nationality.”
Sijbrandij said: “Earning opportunities are vastly different between countries, which helps to perpetuate poverty throughout the world. It is a moral imperative to treat all people well.”
The non-profit is currently being incorporated as Global Income Coin Foundation in Zug, Switzerland. Its operations run entirely on philanthropic donations.