The Marshall Islands test universal basic income in crypto with Stellar
The popularization of $BTC and its numerous digital cousins never takes a break. From obscure forums to monetary policy, crypto extends its tentacles. Sometimes confusing, often disturbing, it colonizes unexpected territories. Even where it was believed that only crumpled bills circulated. And when a forgotten archipelago off the financial radars becomes a testing ground for a dematerialized universal basic income, the eyes change. Cryptos are no longer supporting actors. They invite themselves to the table of public decisions.
Forty thousand citizens, one goal: to replace bills with bytes. In the Marshall Islands, the ENRA program of universal basic income enters the digital age. Goodbye to paper checks – room for USDM1, a token launched on Stellar $XLM and distributed via Lomalo, a digital wallet created by Crossmint. If this token can serve as a means of exchange, it is above all its embedded yield that draws attention. Unlike traditional stablecoins, the interest goes to the citizens. “Unlike a stablecoin, where it is the issuer that receives the yield, here, it is the holder of the asset that benefits,” explains Paul Wong, director of the Stellar Development Fund.
Behind the simplified interface of Lomalo – without recovery phrases or complex interfaces – there is an objective: to make crypto as fluid as the water that connects the islands. This is joined by a crucial factor: banking isolation. Since 2008, banks have become rare, to the point that there is only one remaining international correspondent. And if this link is cut? The archipelago would be disconnected from the global financial system. It is not a hypothesis. It is a stress test. The USDM1 could very well be the sovereign alternative that other countries marginalized by the traditional banking system dream of.