New year, new coins.
The first LGBTQ + cryptocurrency launched by 2022. The cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency that has gained popularity. On Friday, after a week-long pilot test in a popular LGBTQ + neighborhood in Madrid, Spain, Maricoin was officially launched.
The name of the coin is an acronym that plays on a widely known anti-gay slur. Transfers between maricoin users will reportedly be referred to as "trans". But the founders of maricoin hope that the success of the business will empower the community.
"As we move this economy, why shouldn't our community benefit from it, instead of banks, insurance companies, or large corporations that often don't help LGBT + people?" co-founder Juan Belmonte told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The founders hope that maricoin will be used as a payment option for LGBTQ + businesses around the world. Everyone who wants to use it must sign the "equality manifesto" that upholds the rights of LGBTQ + people and all minorities. Those who have signed will be placed on a map that will be available to LGBTQ + travelers.
"If they violate any of the points of our manifesto against discrimination, for example, if they fire a pregnant woman because of her pregnancy, they will be expelled from Maricoin," Chief Executive Francisco รlvarez told Thomson Reuters.
According to him, 8,000 people were on the waiting list to use maricoin. It is backed by Borderless Capital, a Miami-based venture capital firm.
Some on social media are criticizing the name.
Others have criticized all the impetus to attempt "queer capitalism."
