160 people in New York City are now receiving $12,000 each in crypto through a five‑month cash transfer program funded with money that came from Coinbase. The funds did not come directly from the exchange this year.
Coinbase donated the money to a nonprofit after shutting down its own philanthropy program two years ago, and that nonprofit is now running the pilot. The payments are going out in USDC, a stablecoin that tracks the U.S. dollar.
The goal is simple on paper. Move real money to real people using crypto rails and track what happens.
The program started in September and will end in February. Each of the 160 participants began receiving $800 per month in USDC at the start of the pilot.
On top of those monthly payments, every participant also received a one‑time $8,000 lump sum in November.When the five months are finished, each person will have collected exactly $12,000.
All transfers are delivered digitally through crypto wallets using USDC as the payment rail.
New York pilot sends cash as monthly USDC and a large lump sum
The cash transfer trial follows the model of guaranteed basic income programs that already exist across the United States and in other countries.These programs send money directly to people with no spending rules attached.
The payments go to a selected group, not the entire population. Most guaranteed income programs target households that earn close to the poverty line. This makes them different from universal basic income, where everyone in a city or country would receive payments no matter their income level.
The New York crypto pilot changed the usual payment pattern by adding a large upfront payment. Emma Kelsey, the program lead for the New York cash transfer project, told Business Insider that the choice to include a lump sum came from past research.
“A lot of the research in our international work and in the US has shown that a lump sum could allow people to invest or do things that might have higher costs, like a security deposit or sign up for an education or training program,” she said. “But, also, it’s something that we’ve heard from participants is a preference.”
Kelsey also pointed to a separate program in Georgia called In Her Hands, which is run by GiveDirectly.That project also tested larger upfront payments instead of only sending monthly transfers.
“We did a lot of community research and heard from them that this lump sum approach could be more valuable for them versus a standard recurring payment model,” she said. The New York pilot copied that structure by pairing steady monthly USDC with one large payout.
GiveDirectly selects South Bronx and East Harlem for crypto payments
GiveDirectly chose to run the pilot in New York City for several reasons.According to Kelsey, one factor was support from local politicians for crypto‑based tools.Another factor was the level of need in the target neighborhoods.
The 160 participants were selected from the South Bronx and East Harlem, two areas with very low household income levels. “We chose New York, in particular the South Bronx and East Harlem, because there are incredibly low‑income areas,” she said. “There has also been support from politicians in the area around crypto, making it accessible. It seems like a really natural fit where the need was high, but also the ecosystem around crypto had more support than in some other areas.”
The decision to use crypto instead of regular bank transfers also sets this pilot apart from most other guaranteed income tests.
Kelsey said GiveDirectly wants to see how people react when money arrives through digital wallets instead of bank accounts. “We are really interested to see if people use it differently,” she said. “Do they perceive it differently? Is it more or less useful to them?”
Kelsey also said residents in the South Bronx and East Harlem may be more open to using crypto than traditional banking tools.She said some residents already face limits with standard financial services.
“We thought it would be a good opportunity to see if this type of payment modality would be viewed favorably,” she said. The pilot will continue sending $800 each month through February, after the November lump sum already landed in wallets.
