The post 160 New Yorkers get $12,000 in USDC as Coinbase’s crypto‑UBI pilot begins appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

160 people in New York City are now receiving $12,000 each in crypto through a five‑month cash transfer program funded with money that came from Coinbase. The funds did not come directly from the exchange this year. Coinbase donated the money to a nonprofit after shutting down its own philanthropy program two years ago, and that nonprofit is now running the pilot. The payments are going out in USDC, a stablecoin that tracks the U.S. dollar. The goal is simple on paper. Move real money to real people using crypto rails and track what happens. The program started in September and will end in February. Each of the 160 participants began receiving $800 per month in USDC at the start of the pilot. On top of those monthly payments, every participant also received a one‑time $8,000 lump sum in November.When the five months are finished, each person will have collected exactly $12,000. All transfers are delivered digitally through crypto wallets using USDC as the payment rail. New York pilot sends cash as monthly USDC and a large lump sum The cash transfer trial follows the model of guaranteed basic income programs that already exist across the United States and in other countries.These programs send money directly to people with no spending rules attached. The payments go to a selected group, not the entire population. Most guaranteed income programs target households that earn close to the poverty line. This makes them different from universal basic income, where everyone in a city or country would receive payments no matter their income level. The New York crypto pilot changed the usual payment pattern by adding a large upfront payment. Emma Kelsey, the program lead for the New York cash transfer project, told Business Insider that the choice to include a lump sum came…

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Filed under: News - @ November 30, 2025 12:12 am