Trading Platform eToro Develops Blockchain Platform for Universal Basic Income Distribution

Published at: Nov. 7, 2018

Trading platform eToro has recently announced a blockchain-based social project to create a “non-speculative” cryptocurrency with the aim of paying social interest to those who “have less,” according to a press release obtained by Cointelegraph Wednesday, Nov. 7.

The trading platform currently has over 10 million registered users and supports fourteen cryptocurrencies on its platform.

The social project, dubbed GoodDollar, had been presented at Web Summit held this week in Lisbon, Portugal. According to the release, eToro has invested $1 million of its funds to the project and is seeking for more partners to join the initiative.

As Cointelegraph frequently reported, blockchain is widely used in charity projects. For instance, a United Nations department dedicated to women’s rights uses decentralized technologies to pay remunerations to refugees working in camps in Jordan. Apart from being paid without banks’ involvement, the refugees within the program can also pay their purchases directly by using an iris scan.

The main goal of eToro’s project is to provide economic tools for people who are unbanked or disenfranchised, creating a “non-speculative cryptocurrency that aims to find ways to reduce wealth inequality on a global scale,” the release reads. The decentralized solution claims to establish a direct ownership connection between identity and the currency, using a global (universal basic income) UBI distribution mechanism that will work through the deployment of smart contracts.

Trading platform eToro, which became the first website to trade Binance’s in-house token Binance Coin (BNB) this October, also announced yesterday, Nov. 6, that it is launching its own cryptocurrency wallet that will at first provide support for Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC).

Also in October, the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, announced its Blockchain Charity Foundation project where all donations go directly to its beneficiaries. The platform will be first used to raise funds for the victims of the floods and landslides in Eastern Uganda.

And in Indonesia, a U.S. manufacturer of household cleaning supplies has recently reported it will work with environmental organization Plastic Bank in order to open several plastic recycling centers offering locals tokens for waste collection.