eToro Commits $1M Stake to GoodDollar Universal Basic Income Project

[PRESS RELEASE – Tel Aviv, Israel, 22nd September 2021]

eToro, a multi-asset investment platform that empowers people to grow their knowledge and wealth as part of a global community of investors, announced today that it is reinforcing its commitment to opening the digital economy to the next billion global crypto users by this week by raising its stake in GoodDollar’s universal basic income (UBI) protocol from $58,000 to $1 million.

The additional capital will fund the expansion of GoodDollar, a protocol that works to further financial education and bridge the growing global wealth gap with a clever combination of smart contract mechanics, decentralized finance (DeFi), and a reserve-backed crypto token — the G$.

The GoodDollar system captures the interest generate ed by staking sponsors’ capital in DeFi protocols such as Aave and Compound and distributes that to a global community of members in the form of GoodDollar tokens. At the same time, GoodDollar fosters financial education and introduces recipients to the benefits of crypto.

GoodDollar is a model that flips traditional donation-driven philanthropy on its head. Sponsors are incentivized to take part through a “double bottom line” set of rewards: both financial and social. Because it draws upon the power of DeFi, GoodDollar is free from geographical, economic, and regulatory restrictions. Anyone in any country can join the digital economy by accessing free cryptocurrency via the GoodDollar app, and anyone can become a philanthropist by staking capital to support the goals of the project. GoodDollar is in fact the world’s most universal UBI program to date, with more than 225,000 users in virtually every country on the planet.

GoodDollar recently published the results of its Proof of Concept, a limited launch of the protocol designed to validate the economic model and market adoption. Results after one year show that the protocol distributed $16,000 worth of UBI in G$ to more than 225,000 people – based on an initial stake of $58,000.

This success spurred eToro into making a deeper commitment to the project, by raising its stake more than 17-fold. The increased investment comes in preparation for the fall launch of GoodDollar V2, which will allow any believer to commit capital to the system and contribute to making global UBI a reality.

“Too many people are locked out of opportunities that could take them out of poverty, including access to capital markets and digital work opportunities.” said Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro. “The GoodDollar project aims to alleviate that by fostering financial inclusion and empowerment around the world. Our hope is for other innovation leaders, who recognize the potential of crypto, to join us and help use the burgeoning power of DeFi responsibly.”

GoodDollar was conceived by Assia and sponsored by eToro, although it was set up and run as an independent foundation and entity. The upcoming release of the GoodDollar V2 smart contract will shift stewardship to the newly established GoodDAO, and it will be the community who steers the project into the era of global decentralized economies.

About GoodDollar

GoodDollar.org is a non-profit organization on a mission to drive financial education and inclusion. The protocol opens the door for the $80 billion DeFi market to make a lasting impact in the realm of social responsibility and help GoodDollar bring traditional markets to the 1.7 billion people who are still unbanked. GoodDollar has built a wallet that enables any human with an internet connection to sign up and claim a small daily income in G$ coins.

About eToro

eToro is a multi-asset investment platform that empowers people to grow their knowledge and wealth as part of a global community of successful investors. eToro was founded in 2007 with the vision of opening up the global markets so that everyone can trade and invest in a simple and transparent way. Today, eToro is a global community of more than 23 million registered users who share their investment strategies; and anyone can follow the approaches of those who have been the most successful. Due to the simplicity of the platform users can easily buy, hold and sell assets, monitor their portfolio in real time, and transact whenever they want.