Low-Income New Yorkers Are Receiving $12,000 in USDC

In a city that never seems to get cheaper, a small group of young New Yorkers just got a serious financial breather. They are each receiving $12,000 in USDC stablecoin.

The program, called Future First, is giving 160 low-income residents (ages 18 to 30) in the South Bronx and East Harlem a total of $12,000 over six months. It started with $800 monthly payments and just dropped an $8,000 lump sum in November, with the final payments coming in early 2026. The money comes with zero strings attached: spend it on rent, school, debt, business ideas, or whatever moves the needle for you.

Recipients were selected through an application process followed by a lottery to ensure fairness and randomness among eligible low-income young adults in targeted high-need neighborhoods. This method helps avoid bias and allows researchers to study broad impacts on housing, education, and overall well-being without cherry-picking participants.

This is not government stimulus or a traditional charity handout. The funding is leftover donations from Coinbase's now-shut-down GiveCrypto initiative, handed over to the nonprofit GiveDirectly, which has a decade-plus track record of sending unrestricted cash to people in extreme poverty around the world. Instead of wiring dollars through banks (and watching fees eat 5 to 10% for unbanked recipients), they are delivering the full amount instantly in USDC on the Base network via Coinbase wallets.

Why crypto? Speed, cost, and reach. Transfers cost pennies and land in seconds. For someone without a traditional bank account, that means 100% of the grant actually arrives. No check-cashing lines, no predatory fees.

Early stories from participants are exactly what you would hope for: one person told Bloomberg the lump sum is going straight to a security deposit so they can finally move out of a bad living situation. Another is planning to pay for trade-school certification.

A quick backstory on the Coinbase connection

GiveCrypto.org was Coinbase's charity arm launched in 2018 by Brian Armstrong and Joe Waltman with the explicit mission of getting crypto into the hands of people who needed it most. They ran pilots in emerging markets, funded disaster relief, and even experimented with basic income-style payments. In 2023, Coinbase decided to wind the program down but did not want the remaining funds to sit idle. They donated roughly $2.6 million to GiveDirectly with the stipulation that it be used for cash transfers in the U.S. and ideally in crypto.

The result is Future First: the first major U.S. basic-income pilot delivered exclusively on-chain.

Other Ways to Give: Donating Crypto via Fidelity Charitable

Inspired by crypto-powered aid like this? Fidelity Charitable makes it easy and tax-smart to donate Bitcoin, Ethereum, and dozens of other cryptocurrencies. Contribute appreciated crypto directly to a Giving Account, avoid capital-gains tax, claim a full fair-market-value deduction, and recommend grants to virtually any U.S. charity whenever you’re ready. Many donors turn a highly appreciated asset into maximum charitable impact with zero tax drag.
→ Donate crypto with Fidelity Charitable

Sources

I love experiments like this. They test two big ideas at once: (1) unrestricted cash works better than most traditional aid, and (2) stablecoins can make the “last mile” of money movement dramatically cheaper and more inclusive.

If the early results hold, we might look back at this little South Bronx pilot as the moment crypto stopped being just an investment narrative and started proving itself as public infrastructure.

What do you think: ready for basic income on-chain? Let me know @bradoyler on X