Are you a history buff?
Do you follow politics?
You might be wondering what that has to do with cryptocurrency…
The answer is everything.
The idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a centuries-old concept… and the challenges that have kept it from becoming a reality are… in my opinion… the very problems that blockchain technology was designed to solve.
This has led many to believe we are at a crossroads where human need meets technological inspiration.
But does this solution create a new set of problems?
Originally published in 2019… this guide has been updated for 2026 to explore the full, complex picture of a crypto-powered UBI to answer that question.
What Is Universal Basic Income (UBI)?
In a nutshell, Universal Basic Income is a payment designed to provide a minimum level of income to every citizen of a country or a specific region.
Generally speaking, this payment is distributed equally regardless of a person’s earnings, and is given without proof of means or requirements to maintain the disbursement.
So, the head of a company would receive the same payment as a homeless person… and you wouldn’t have to prove you meet a certain income level or attend school to keep it.
The core principles of UBI are that it is Universal, has No Commitments/Requirements, provides Timely Funds, and is Paid in Cash/Native Currency.
History & Modern Resurgence of UBI
The idea of a government providing a basic income is not new… its origins can be traced back to the early 1500s with Sir Thomas More, advisor to England’s King Henry VIII.
Famous advocates throughout history have included Thomas Paine, Bertrand Russell, Milton Friedman, Richard Nixon, Pierre Trudeau, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Several countries have tried basic income plans, including the Negative Income Tax in the 1970s in the U.S… Canada’s “Mincome” experiment… and the Alaska Permanent Fund, which has paid residents a dividend from oil revenues since the 1980s.
In recent years, the idea has seen a resurgence, championed by tech leaders who argue that AI and automation will lead to mass unemployment, and by politicians like Andrew Yang, who made it a centerpiece of his 2020 presidential campaign.
The conversation has since evolved to include the instability of the gig economy and the value of unpaid digital labor as further justification for a new social contract.
The conversation has since evolved to include the instability of the gig economy and the value of unpaid digital labor as further justification for a new social contract.
We’re already seeing self-driving cars and AI-powered customer service replace jobs that were once considered stable.
This isn’t a future fear… it’s a present reality… and the pace is accelerating.
Yet, despite this renewed urgency and centuries of debate… the idea has never been implemented on a large scale.
The reasons why are twofold… and they have remained the primary roadblocks for generations.
Traditional Challenges of Implementing UBI
These two hurdles… Management & Funding.
They are the foundation of the entire debate.
They are why proponents champion UBI as a societal necessity and why opponents decry it as an economic impossibility.
To truly understand the problem, we have to look at both sides of the coin…
A project of this magnitude would need to provide universal access… be distributed fairly and transparently… be accepted by all economic sectors… and have a continual, renewable source of funding.
For governments, these are nearly insurmountable hurdles…
Managing a global program is a bureaucratic nightmare, and funding it through taxation or debt creation presents its own economic and ethical dilemmas.
But before we explore how crypto might solve the technical hurdles… it’s important to understand the full scope of the debate.
Proponents and opponents both make powerful arguments… and acknowledging them is key to having an honest conversation.
Pros
- Reduces poverty & helps provide additional access to healthcare
- Provide income and assistance for the least fortunate (handicap/homeless)
- Provides an income for non-working/single parents and unpaid caregivers
- Encourage entrepreneurship
- Provide youth with the ability to focus on their education, leading to lower dropout rates and increased opportunities for higher education
- Provide workers the ability to take their time and search for jobs which better meet their salary or skill requirements
- Replace existing social welfare programs and reduce government spending
- Less invasive than most existing social welfare programs
- Diminish poverty and help increase a person’s feeling of self-worth
- Diminish petty crimes
Cons
- Removes incentive to work, eroding the understanding of the value of hard work
- A UBI program is too expensive
- Any program would be difficult to manage and ensure distribution of funds
- Determining the proper benefit levels
- Susceptibility to or creation of inflation
- Potentially stifle a country’s economic growth
- Payments can be used for morally bankrupt items like drugs
- Using the program as a political platform
For decades, these challenges have been the end of the conversation… but today… for the first time in history… we have a new technological toolkit that was seemingly designed to address these exact problems.
Blockchain Solution: A New Framework
This is where proponents, myself included, believe technology can provide a breakthrough.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency offer a potential framework to solve the management and distribution problems that have plagued UBI for centuries.
Transparency and Immutability: A blockchain creates a virtually unalterable public ledger.
Every transaction is traceable on a public ledger, which could drastically reduce mismanagement and corruption that plagues traditional government programs.
Decentralization: A decentralized network could prevent any single government or entity from taking control of the entire system, a key concern for any program of this scale.
Digital Identity: In theory… blockchain-based identity solutions could verify every recipient is a real person while preserving privacy.
While in my opinion, we have not yet developed an adequate means to attain this with our current level of technology… I am hopeful that this is something we will see in the not too distant future.
Global Accessibility: A digital currency system is borderless by nature…
All a person would need is a smartphone, not a bank account, which is a game-changer for the unbanked populations of the world.
According to the World Bank’s 2025 Global Findex report, 1.3 billion adults globally remain unbanked… highlighting the massive need for a solution that bypasses traditional financial gatekeepers.
Crypto Could Fund UBI: Staking & Mining
Beyond distribution, crypto offers novel ideas for funding… instead of relying solely on taxation, a UBI system could be funded by the technology itself.
* Staking as a Public Utility: Imagine a nation-state or a public foundation creating a Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrency. The network’s transaction fees or a portion of the newly minted tokens could be automatically routed via smart contract to a citizen dividend fund. This turns the security of the network itself into a source of public revenue.
* Resource-Powered Mining: A country with abundant renewable energy (like geothermal or hydropower) could operate state-owned cryptocurrency mining operations. The profits generated could be used to fund a UBI program, effectively turning a natural resource into a direct benefit for every citizen.
The Practicality: How Would It Actually Work?
So, we have a way to fund it and a way to distribute it… but there’s another elephant in the room… what currency are people actually getting paid in?
And how can they use it for real-world things like rent, food, and electricity?
This is where the conversation inevitably turns to stablecoins.
You can’t fund a UBI with a highly volatile asset like Bitcoin… that volatility would just cause constant anxiety.
For a UBI to work, the currency must be stable.
This is why most modern crypto-UBI proposals revolve around a stablecoin… a cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar… this would give the payment the digital, borderless nature of crypto without the wild price swings.
However, there is still the issue that a stablecoin, pegged to an existing fiat currency, is still losing its purchasing power like the currency itself… but that’s a discussion I breach in my video series; Crypto Mindset Minutes.
But to get back on topic… even using a stablecoin for a UBI payment… you’re not done…
Your local landlord or grocery store likely doesn’t accept stablecoins.
The final piece of the puzzle is the instant conversion layer.
Modern crypto infrastructure already allows for this… a person could receive their UBI payment in a stablecoin… and, through a crypto debit card or a simple app on their phone… instantly convert it to their local fiat currency at the point of sale.
To them, it would feel no different than swiping a debit card, but the underlying transaction would be happening on the blockchain.
This is something I talk about in my Living on Crypto video series.
So, on a technical level, the solutions are emerging.
The problems of management and funding… while not easy… appear solvable with this new technology.
But in solving the technical problems, we run headfirst into a much deeper, more personal one.
UBI vs. Self-Sovereignty
While blockchain can solve the technical problems of UBI, it introduces a deep philosophical one.
At its core… UBI is a top-down distribution model… even if it’s run on a transparent blockchain, someone still has to create the system and distribute the funds.
Recipients are, in essence, dependent on a central issuer.
This is fundamentally antithetical to the core ethos of cryptocurrency… self-sovereignty.
And if I’m being completely honest… this core philosophical debate is the main reason I did not even want to write this article.
At my core… I believe in freedom and self sovereignty… especially when it comes to finances… this is why I’ve dedicated myself to teaching others about this technology, as outlined on my Mission & Roadmap page.
Whether or not you agree with my core philosophies… this is the critical tension that must be acknowledged… a crypto-UBI is not a libertarian utopia… it is, at best, a more efficient and transparent version of a paternalistic system.
Now, a proponent of UBI would argue here that I’m prioritizing a philosophical ideal over the immediate, desperate need of a person living in poverty.
They would say that a more efficient paternalistic system is still a massive improvement over the current one… and that we should focus on solving the problem of hunger first.
And they have a point… it’s a valid and powerful argument.
But my response is this… accepting a more comfortable cage is still accepting a cage.
The entire promise of this technology is the opportunity to escape the systems of centralized control and dependency that have failed so many for so long.
To use it to simply build a newer, shinier version of that same system is… in my opinion… a tragic waste of its potential.
Real-World Crypto UBI Projects
Despite this philosophical conflict, projects have emerged to test the waters.
While early pioneers like Mannabase and SwiftDemand have faded… the experimentation continues.
Newer projects like GoodDollar, Circles UBI, and Worldcoin are exploring different models, from using social graphs to biometric identity to distribute basic incomes.
Frankly, some of these methods cause more of my “freedom senses” to heighten and give me pause…
For example, WorldCoin makes you scan your eye, thus using your retina as your necessary biometric data… personally. I’m not giving Sam Altman & OpenAI my retina…
But at the end of the day… these projects serve as real-world case studies… demonstrating both the potential and the challenges of this idea in practice.
The Ultimate Philosophical Conflict
The idea of a Universal Basic Income is a powerful one… driven by a desire to reduce poverty and provide a floor of economic stability.
The challenges that have kept it a theoretical dream for centuries are real, but blockchain technology offers a compelling… if imperfect… toolkit to address them.
However, we must not let the excitement over the technology blind us to the central philosophical conflict…
Can a system built for individual sovereignty truly be used to implement a system of universal dependency?
Sadly, the answer is likely no… but perhaps the greatest value of exploring a crypto-powered UBI is not as a final solution… but as a powerful case study.
It forces us to confront the limits of decentralization and clarifies what we truly mean by freedom in a digital age.
Where Do We Go From Here?
So, if a crypto-powered UBI isn’t the ultimate answer, what is?
The value of this exploration isn’t finding a perfect solution… but in identifying the correct principles to build toward.
Instead of focusing on creating new systems of dependency… our energy as a community is better spent on technologies that truly empower the individual…
Focus on and support projects that are building tools for true self-sovereignty… decentralized identity solutions that you control… peer-to-peer exchanges that cut out gatekeepers… and financial systems that allow anyone to become their own bank.
The goal isn’t to get a handout from a more efficient system… the goal is to build a world where you don’t need one at all.
That is the promise of cryptocurrency, and… in my opinion… that is the future worth fighting for.