According to a report in Reuters, an LGBT+ themed cryptocurrency aims to change the world. The founders of the LGBT+ cryptocurrency project said they want to use the economic power of the community to “change the world.”
Maricoin, a game of words taken from a homophobic insult in Spanish, was launched with a weekly pilot test involving 10 businesses in Chueca, known as the LGBT+ neighborhood of Madrid’s capital city, Spain. Supporters of Maricoin aim to pave the way for the virtual currency to be launched early next year and used as a means of payment at LGBT-friendly businesses and events around the world.
Juan Belmonte, co-founder of the project, used the following statements in a statement to the Thomson Reuters Foundation:
Belmonte, a hairdresser and entrepreneur, said she thought about the LGBT+ cryptocurrency idea at the Pride event in Madrid in July this year.
There will be a payment method in businesses that have signed the Equality Manifesto
Maricoin is backed by Miami-based venture capital firm Borderless Capital, and Francisco Alvarez, the venture’s Chief Executive Officer, said 8,000 people were on the waiting list to buy maricoin before the currency began trading. Under their plan, LGBT+ cryptocurrency will be accepted as payment at businesses that sign an “equality manifesto,” from restaurants and cafes to shops and hotels.
Among other things, the manifesto advocates for a “social, ethical and transparent economy” as well as advocating for the rights of LGBT+ people and “all those who are subject to exclusion”. “The organizations that accept our money will be listed on our map, which will be an LGBTI guide for anyone visiting any city in the world,” said Alvarez, 48.
Alvarez and Belmonte also hope the initiative can create a source of funding for LGBT+ businesses and community initiatives around the world: