Journalist: Jordan French
Blockchain has promised financial inclusion for over a decade, yet most of its breakthroughs have flowed to the already connected. Trading platforms mint overnight millionaires while nearly half the world still struggles with basic financial access. Against that backdrop, XDC Network’s $900,000 grant to GoodDollar feels like a rare moment when a blockchain project is investing in inclusion not as a slogan, but as infrastructure.
GoodDollar, launched in 2020 and initially backed by eToro, is one of the most widely adopted universal basic income protocols in existence. Its premise is simple but radical: anyone can claim a daily stipend of G$ tokens, creating both access to income and an introduction to the digital economy. That access has translated into real traction. Over 910,000 people across 210 countries have claimed G$, generating more than 85 million transactions to date. Each of those claims represents not just a distribution of value, but a new connection to financial tools that many participants never had before.
The stories behind those numbers are what make the project matter. In communities where formal banking is inaccessible or prohibitively expensive, GoodDollar tokens allow vendors to accept payments, students to pay for tuition, and families to cover essentials. More than 35,000 people are active every month, moving G$ through peer-to-peer transactions, donations, and even mobile top-ups. It is not speculative wealth creation, but a functioning ecosystem of small but meaningful exchanges that collectively illustrate how digital money can serve everyday life.
XDC’s grant strengthens the backbone of this experiment. Funds will go toward integrating GoodWallet into the XDC ecosystem, establishing a new reserve, and lowering the cost of claiming tokens on-chain. These steps may sound technical, yet they are crucial for scaling. A universal basic income protocol cannot succeed if it becomes expensive to use, and it cannot grow if it remains isolated from broader blockchain infrastructure. By offering an enterprise-grade network designed for scalability and trade finance, XDC provides the rails that can carry GoodDollar into its next phase of adoption.
That integration also highlights a larger point about the direction of blockchain itself. Universal basic income has long been dismissed as utopian, but in blockchain form it operates more like a protocol experiment than a political debate. What GoodDollar is building is not theory but practice: an open system that anyone can enter, where the circulation of tokens becomes a form of digital participation. By aligning itself with this model, XDC is signaling that financial inclusion is not just a rhetorical flourish but a technical priority worth serious investment.
Critics will rightly argue that $900,000 will not close the global wealth gap. The magnitude of inequality is far too large. Yet the significance of this move lies not in raw funding but in what it represents. In an industry where billions are spent chasing yield farms and speculative applications, even a fraction of that capital directed toward systemic inclusion sends a message. It suggests that blockchain networks can choose to build not only for traders and developers but for populations who have long been excluded from formal finance.
The leadership behind both projects frames the mission in human terms. Yoni Assia, GoodDollar’s founder and CEO of eToro, has described the protocol as being about real people, from students working to pay for their education to vendors selling produce. Atul Khekade, co-founder of XDC, positioned the grant as a counterweight to technological trends that risk accelerating inequality, arguing that blockchain can instead create a fairer future. These are not abstract aspirations. They point to a partnership designed to extend digital income into the routines of daily life, making it easier for anyone to participate in a new financial system.
The question now is whether this becomes a blueprint for others. If blockchain is to move beyond hype cycles and speculative fervor, it needs more case studies like GoodDollar. A network where tokens are not just traded but used for food, tuition, and peer-to-peer exchange gives the industry a tangible example of relevance. With XDC’s support, that example now has the infrastructure to grow.
