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A group of low-income New Yorkers will receive $12,000 worth of USDC stablecoin over the next several months to see whether guaranteed payments delivered in crypto can actually help them build more stable financial lives.
The pilot, called Future First, is funded by Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and run by the nonprofit GiveDirectly. It targets 160 low-income adults between 18 and 30 years old who were chosen through a lottery, according to Bloomberg.
Each person receives $8,000 up front, followed by five monthly payments of $800, all in USDC, a cryptocurrency that’s pegged to the U.S. dollar to avoid the wild price swings seen with Bitcoin or Ethereum.
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This program gives people as much flexibility as possible, just like traditional guaranteed income programs, Bloomberg reported. Recipients can spend it using a Coinbase debit card, transfer it to a bank account or keep the money in their Coinbase account. By keeping the amount in their account, recipients can let the USDC accrue the Coinbase equivalent of interest, set at 4.1%, or reinvest it into other cryptocurrencies within the Coinbase platform.
For GiveDirectly and Coinbase, this pilot is partly about testing whether crypto can make distributing aid faster and cheaper. Sending USDC doesn’t require traditional banking infrastructure, which could make it easier to scale similar programs globally in the future. It’s also an experiment to see whether receiving aid in crypto changes how people use it. Do they hold onto it, cash it out immediately or use it for different types of expenses?
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Once the program is over, they’ll survey recipients about their experiences using Coinbase as compared to traditional banking services, and assess how this approach compares to traditional guaranteed income pilots. If the results are positive, it could shape how future aid programs are designed in New York and beyond.
You can’t join the program now because it’s already closed. It was a pilot project for 160 pre-selected low-income New Yorkers aged 18 to 30 who were chosen by lottery. If you’re interested in taking part in similar initiatives in the future, the best way to stay informed is to follow organizations involved in guaranteed income programs, like GiveDirectly, on their official website and social media accounts.