Glo is building a stablecoin that lifts people out of extreme poverty by providing a basic income. We're a nonprofit startup. Our goal is zero extreme poverty.
Glo is a fully-backed stablecoin that invests its treasuries in short-term Treasury Bills -- just like Circle (USDC). The difference is we'll then give the proceeds from that investment away to GiveDirectly. We call it the anti-poverty version of the dollar.
We raised a $2m seed donation from Sid Sijbrandij (GitLab, YC W15) and are hiring broadly to help realize this vision:
- Head of Community
- Lead Writer
- Communications and Social Media Manager
- Motivated individuals with a vision for how to grow GLO
Glo's first goal is to be the best stablecoin, and we'll then aim for mainstream adoption beyond the crypto world. Ultimately we strive for Glo to be widely used for payments just like the dollar or the euro.
How does this not become a recursive / pyramid problem? I give you one USD, you lend that at interest and give me a non-interest bearing token in return. Iff this token were accepted as good as USD I could then collect tokens from others and invest those in interest bearing accounts and issue my own "stable" token.
If it seems nonsensical at the second iteration it was nonsensical at the first iteration.
Chiming in as an uninvolved participant. It's not "as good as the US Dollar." It's worse in some ways, better in some ways. One man's "95% as good as the dollar for me" is another man's "much better than dollars for me."
The people providing interest bearing accounts would be on the "95% as good as the dollar for me" end.
I worked on the world's first decentralized stablecoin in 2014 (NuBits)[1], the first ethereum cross-platform wallet (Jaxx), have an MSc in software engineering, launched and led several startups. I'm a maker at heart, member of the effective altruism movement, and I think my skills, values, and culture is perfectly aligned with glo's. You can use me in so many ways ;)
Would love to chat, but I read that you received more than 300 applications, so please take a look at mine,I'm sending an email
You're likely doing nothing wrong it's just a saturated market of jobseekers. Supply and demand ebb and flow for most roles regularly. I simply think engineers have had a period of very high demand and lower supply for decades. Now that companies are finding ways to hire anywhere and everywhere (with or without a legal entity) supply has greatly increased and impacted demand. Just 2 cents from a recruiter hiring engineers for over 24 years. Also, remote jobs have the lowest talent demand (highest supply) because everyone wants them.
Glo is building a stablecoin that lifts people out of extreme poverty by providing a basic income. We're a nonprofit startup. Our goal is zero extreme poverty.
Glo is a fully-backed stablecoin that invests its treasuries in short-term Treasury Bills -- just like Circle (USDC). The difference is we'll then give the proceeds from that investment away to GiveDirectly. We call it the anti-poverty version of the dollar.
We raised a $2m seed donation from Sid Sijbrandij (GitLab, YC W15) and are hiring broadly to help realize this vision:
- Executive Assistant
- Head of Community
- Lead Writer
- Copywriter
- Communications and Social Media Manager
- Brand partnerships manager
- Operations manager
- Motivated individuals with a vision for how to grow GLO
Glo's first goal is to be the best stablecoin, and we'll then aim for mainstream adoption beyond the crypto world. Ultimately we strive for Glo to be widely used for payments just like the dollar or the euro.
If you had a tool to calculate the amount of interest donated over any given window of time, and could guarantee that is a tax deductible non-profit donation, this could get popular.
Glo is building a stablecoin that lifts people out of extreme poverty by providing a basic income. We're a nonprofit startup. Our goal is zero extreme poverty.
Glo is a fully-backed stablecoin that invests its treasuries in short-term Treasury Bills -- just like Circle (USDC). The difference is we'll then give the proceeds from that investment away to GiveDirectly. We call it the anti-poverty version of the dollar.
We raised a $2m seed donation from Sid Sijbrandij (GitLab, YC W15) and are hiring broadly to help realize this vision:
- Head of Community
- Lead Writer
- Copywriter
- Communications and Social Media Manager
- Brand partnerships manager
- Operations manager
- Motivated individuals with a vision for how to grow GLO
Glo's first goal is to be the best stablecoin, and we'll then aim for mainstream adoption beyond the crypto world. Ultimately we strive for Glo to be widely used for payments just like the dollar or the euro.
For starters, there already is a use case for stablecoins like Glo. The current stablecoin market is $150 billion. At historically average treasury yields, $150 billion of Glo would generate enough money to lift approximately 9 million people out of extreme poverty. [1]
Secondly, many people have some long-term cash savings they're doing nothing with, just in case. Holding this in Glo can be an act of altruism. Sure, you can buy t-bills yourself, but by this logic no charity fundraiser would ever make sense (people can donate to causes without the fundraisers, no?). Humans don't spontaneously do all possible things. Marketing and coordination have an effect.
Thirdly, we'll work to make Glo supported as a means of exchange (e.g. by partnering with payment service providers, payroll providers, card issuers etc). Once you can receive your salary and pay your bills and subscriptions in Glo, this is all money you wouldn't have received savings yield on but is now lifting people out of extreme poverty. Same for companies. They can switch to Glo as their main currency and have more social impact at no financial cost,
Global Income Coin | Remote | Full Time | Non Profit | $100k+
Global Income Coin is building a stablecoin that lifts people out of extreme poverty by providing a basic income. We're a nonprofit startup. Our mission is zero extreme poverty.
The stablecoin is called Glo. Glo is the ethical cryptocurrency. We will compete with the current stablecoin incumbents (Tether, USDC), but will also aim for mainstream adoption beyond the crypto world. Ultimately we strive for Glo to be widely used for payments just like the dollar or the euro.
Glo will be a fully-backed stablecoin. We will invest our treasuries in short-term treasury bills, then give the proceeds from that investment away to GiveDirectly. This will be the starting point for our vision of a crypto-based UBI.
We raised a $2m seed donation from Sid Sijbrandij (GitLab, YC W15) and are hiring broadly to help realize this vision:
- Head of Community
- Lead Writer
- Copywriter
- Communications and Social Media Manager
- Brand partnerships manager
- Operations manager
- Motivated individuals with a vision for how to grow GLO
Fully remote and async - we meet in a different global location each quarter. Brilliant and passionate team. Huge important mission. Complex problems to solve. Highly rewarding.
Global Income Coin | Remote | Full Time | Non Profit | $100k+
Global Income Coin is building a stablecoin that lifts people out of poverty by providing a basic income. We're a nonprofit startup. Our mission is to eradicate extreme poverty.
The stablecoin is called GLO. GLO is the ethical cryptocurrency. We will compete with the current stablecoin incumbents (Tether, USDC), but will also aim for mainstream adoption beyond the crypto world. Ultimately we strive for GLO to be widely used for payments just like the dollar or the euro.
GLO will be a fully-backed stablecoin. We will invest our treasuries in short-term treasury bills, then give the proceeds from that investment away to GiveDirectly. This will be the starting point for our vision of a crypto-based UBI.
We raised a $2m seed donation from Sid Sijbrandij (GitLab, YC W15) and are hiring broadly to help realize this vision:
- Head of Community
- Lead Writer
- Copywriter
- Communications and Social Media Manager
- Brand partnerships manager
- Motivated individuals with a vision for how to grow GLO
ok but if GiveDirectly is doing good work, why not side-step the crypto-everything and spend your efforts helping people with IRAs to make qualified charitable distributions give directly to GiveDirectly? Or other ways of directly supporting GiveDirectly?
I find the idea of "Passive Philanthropy" revolutionary. This would be the first model to demonstrate such a concept. That alone is worth the effort IMHO
I mean, yes, a charity that is 1) not a government, and so not subject to politics, 2) doesn't require continual donations because it is self-funding, and 3) big enough to do massive good... that combination is in fact revolutionary.
I'm just saying that government programs to help the poor, and even to do foreign aid, are kind of on the same model, except for point 1.
[Edit: I guess foundations are also kind of prior art. It's just that none of them are big enough for the kind of impact that Glo is reaching for.]
Another prior art, and a non-governmental one, is tithing. Lots of religious charities use tithings in ways that combat poverty. Or they could, at scale, if everyone joined the religion.
(In the future, at scale) Imagine if foundations kept their funds in Glo. That would be a philanthropic force multiplier. They are doing good on the front end and the back. We aren't a replacement of any giving channels but we could potentially be a maximizer to any of them.
Yes, we will allow those. In general we'll aim to be as transparent as possible, which we believe can give us a competitive advantage over other stablecoins [1]. I personally think that being a non-profit helps with being credible in that respect.
Right now, Glo the organization is still taking shape. As we formalize, we'll have things like a board of directors, and all the standard protections/checks that nonprofits have to stop them from being evil. Will that suffice to garner trust? I am not sure, but at face value, lots of nonprofits, including those that handle cash transfers, are trusted.
To reframe this question, what would suffice to elevate Glo to the same level of trustworthiness as GiveDirectly, assuming we were structured similarly?
> To reframe this question, what would suffice to elevate Glo to the same level of trustworthiness as GiveDirectly, assuming we were structured similarly?
Why another shitty stablecoin? Stable coins have been anything but recently.
Why does this have to be on blockchain?
What happens to my money when you fold?
What happens to my money if there's a backdoor in your coin?
Where's the fund manager?
When there's a run on your coin are you going to buoy it up by selling your treasury holdings?
What happens on a weekend or a holiday when a run is happening on the coin and the treasury and the markets are closed? It can't all be in TBills, some of it has to be in USD. What's the breakdown? Where is it published?
What's to say tomorrow you won't rug pull and leave the country in a yacht? Or the leader who takes after you?
Where's your true heart at? Is it for the poor? Or are you going to transition from a non-profit to a for-profit organization, once you get a good amount of money in your coffers?
And then I see this:
To end extreme poverty, Glo would need to replace 7% of all the money in the
world. While ambitious, this is not impossible:
We'd be at 100% of our goal if 87% of US savings deposits ($10.6 trillion) were converted to Glo
We'd be at 63% of our goal if all cash held by US companies ($5.8 trillion) were converted to Glo
Look you guys are clearly smart, but you've drunk the kool-aid.
Stablecoins offer a lot of utility already. Glo will be fully-backed by reserve assets to maintain stability. This is much different than stablecoins you might consider not so trustworthy.
Blockchain allows a new form of money to be created and used in a very efficient manner. There is no need to build out new financial infrastructure or payment network to use this new form of money. Blockchains have proven to be trusted forms of ledgers.
If we were to cease operations, we'd ensure that every Glo stablecoin outstanding is still redeemable for $1.
We are taking extreme care in our development to prevent any potential vulnerabilities in the stablecoin itself and the processes we incorporate as an organization.
We have expertise around managing funds and are also looking to add talent in that domain.
Treasuries will be liquidated to make sure redemption demand is met. We have no profit incentive to take any liquidity risk with reserve assets. The breakdown between USD and treasuries will be real-time transparent. At smaller market caps, we'll have to lean towards greater liquidity. At larger market cap, we'll conservatively estimate a trustworthy composition of assets.
Global Income Coin will exist solely for the benefit the mission.
> Blockchain allows a new form of money to be created and used in a very efficient manner.
See, here's the thing. If you cared enough about this project, you'd do this without the blockchain.
You bring this blockchain thing, and I feel like your mission is "Blockchain or bust". But you can always pivot to the blockchain later. As blockchain proponents have said, "It's early days." Why would you risk your mission on an untrustworthy technology? Boring tech is much much better for building on your mission. From SV to Des Moines, there's a reason people write their software in Java to this day, e.g.
You can use a BTC address for payments and payouts, as well as say traditional mechanisms (many of which are wrapped by Plaid). Essentially you become something like "Wealthfront".
Also, there's a lot of poverty in the US, such as in SV/SF itself. I would focus on that. Blockchain is sexy, but the homeless situation is not. It's a much harder problem. And your mission just assumes someone else will fix it and worse just assumes it's fixable in the first place.
But I still hear about people biking in SF talking about PPMs (poops per mile).
Meanwhile NIMBY's are fighting new housing projects.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's not fixable, but simply relying on others to fix your core mission will end in tears.
We actually donate all the money we generate to one such a charity (GiveDirectly). If you want to donate money to GiveDirectly, that's amazing and we encourage it—donating $35/month lifts one person out of extreme poverty [1]
Glo is an additional way to contribute to GiveDirectly. Instead of (or in addition to) donating convert your USD to Glo and it will passively generate money for GiveDirectly.
Our goal is to scale up the available money for GiveDirectly to give away. We're an actual non-profit, not a scam, and no one is taking a cut. Our operations are paid from philanthropic donations; donors receive nothing; employees receive a salary.
> Instead of (or in addition to) donating convert your USD to Glo and it will passively generate money for GiveDirectly. Our goal is to scale up the available money for GiveDirectly to give away.
That GiveDirectly isn't already doing something similar indicates to me that they believe it's not an effective use of money. You, I assume, disagree. Why should I trust your judgement over theirs?
We're not endorsed by GiveDirectly, but in our informal chats they expressed excitement about our plans. I can't speak for them but I can imagine they want to focus on their core model. Building and issuing a stablecoin is quite a separate enterprise.
As for whether Glo is an effective use of money, if we'd capture 5% of the stablecoin market we'd generate the total amount of money GiveDirectly distributed in 2021 [1]
I appreciate that you address head on the notion that people can “just give money directly” and you provide a link.
What I think I’m missing is the Why? Why would I want Glo? What’s better about owning this crypto currency than just parking my $1000 in an FDIC insured bank account and donating $25?
(Honest question - not trying to troll here at all - I’m just not seeing a reason to turn money into Glo Coin)
It's a good question! I work at Glo and I'll take a stab at it.
First, if you're already someone who uses stablecoins, Glo will do the same stuff that your stablecoin of choice does, and also provide some social good on top. We think that's going to be compelling to some folks.
Otherwise, we're aiming to reach folks who might be inspired by the long-term vision and thus be willing to put up with some friction relative to "parking my $1000 in an FDIC insured bank account and donating $25." No worries if that isn't you.
The next stage for us is to make Glo increasingly viable as a currency, meaning that you can actually use it to buy and sell stuff. That's probably the phase where Glo becomes more attractive to many than a traditional savings account.
We described these stages in more detail in a recent post to the effective altruism forum [0].
Hope that clarifies, happy to discuss this at length here or via email (seth at global income coin dot com), etc.
Glo is building a stablecoin that lifts people out of extreme poverty by providing a basic income. We're a nonprofit startup. Our goal is zero extreme poverty.
Glo is a fully-backed stablecoin that invests its treasuries in short-term Treasury Bills -- just like Circle (USDC). The difference is we'll then give the proceeds from that investment away to GiveDirectly. We call it the anti-poverty version of the dollar.
We raised a $2m seed donation from Sid Sijbrandij (GitLab, YC W15) and are hiring broadly to help realize this vision:
- Head of Community
- Lead Writer
- Communications and Social Media Manager
- Motivated individuals with a vision for how to grow GLO
Glo's first goal is to be the best stablecoin, and we'll then aim for mainstream adoption beyond the crypto world. Ultimately we strive for Glo to be widely used for payments just like the dollar or the euro.
Check out https://glodollar.org for more!
If you're interested please do not hesitate to get in touch via hello@glodollar.org