Online trading and investment platform eToro is pumping $1 million into an open source community project that aims to reduce global wealth inequality through the creation of a cryptocurrency that pays "social interest" to those who have less.
The GoodDollar experiment will try to create a non-speculative cryptocurrency that is continuously distributed via smart contracts to any verified participant for free, effectively creating a global, open, universal basic income.
Says Yoni Assia, CEO, eToro: “The merging of blockchain technology, growing support for UBI and the realization that wealth inequality must be reduced, may finally converge into a new global economic system that would give all humans the financial freedom to pursue their purpose and happiness.”
EToro says that a team in London and Tel Aviv is already working on the experiment, but is calling on experts, ambassadors and money men to join in.
"Too often the tech world focuses on generating commercial value, rather than societal value. Technology should be used to tackle the great challenges of our time. This is especially true of blockchain, which has been harnessed in many creative ways, but hasn’t yet been used to tackle our really big challenges," says Assia.