Because coercive, state-run welfare is woefully ineffective (to say the very least), the cryptocurrency revolution has some people wondering if welfare schemes like a “basic income” might actually work if done voluntarily.
Bitnation is a crypto protocol which bills itself as “Governance 2.0.” Its tagline is “Borderless, Decentralized, Voluntary.” It has recently announced that the DApp (decentralized application) BasicIncome.co will be run over the Bitnation protocol as an opt-in application for users.
Basic income has previously been known as the idea that individuals are entitled to others’ money if they don’t earn any of their own. Wherever basic income has been enacted by states has resulted in the predictable ends of socialism: a dying economy, class warfare, and an actual increase in poverty.
But what if it’s done voluntarily, without taxation?
How the BasicIncome DApp will work on Bitnation
BasicIncome.co was developed by Johan Nygren, a Swedish student who is seeking input for his released project at BasicIncome’s GitHub. The DApp would be available to those who wished to add a contribution to the final amount of their transactions on the Bitnation network. The contribution would then apparently fund basic incomes.
Nygren said of his DApp:
“Your safety net emerges from the sum of your financial interactions, allowing you to live and evolve as a global and mobile citizen. Basicincome.co transforms the stage upon which we unfold.”
Could a voluntary basic income really create and maintain wealth for all its users? Bitnation is betting that it’s possible. Bitnation’s press release says that basic income “has gained more widespread popularity over the last few decades because some imagine a world where computers do most of the work, and few people have actual jobs despite an overall wealth surplus in society.”
Vitalik Buterin certainly imagines such a future at 3:10 below. Is voluntary basic income a way to facilitate this future?
Whoa—Voluntary Welfare?
What if advocates of basic income – rather than advocating that everyone else should be forced to comply with their will – instead put their money where their mouth is and donate to the cause they believe in? Would it work? That’s exactly what Bitnation’s basic income app will prove.
What do you think? Are you an advocate of basic income? If so, how much would you be willing to donate to other users on a decentralized governance network?
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