DeFi Meets Universal Basic Income With Just-Launched Project From eToro

Multi-asset brokerage platform eToro has begun a new initiative that uses yield farming to hand out free crypto-backed stablecoins, apparently in a bid to promote financial inclusion.

• Called GoodDollar, the project will create and issue a stablecoin ($G) that can be distributed daily to registered users as a form of universal basic income (UBI).
• At launch, each $G token will be backed by dai (DAI) stablecoins, although the plan is to diversify collateral so that each stablecoin is backed by a basket of cryptocurrencies.
• The UBI model is sustained by supporters who deposit underlying assets onto the platform and then yield farm on supported decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, like Compound or Aave.
• Some of the accrued interest is then handed back to supporters, with the rest used as collateral for new $G tokens that are distributed each day.
• GoodDollar is a non-profit funded by donations from eToro. An app and wallet have been released alongside the announcement on Tuesday.
• Per the announcement, GoodDollar says hundreds of new wallets have been created in countries like South Africa and Nigeria, as well as Venezuela.
• An eToro spokesperson told CoinDesk that “over 100,000 G$ have been distributed to over 250 users” during the course of a two-week trial.

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