Andrew Yang, the Democratic presidential candidate flirted with the idea of paying a Universal Basic Income (UBI) using satoshis.

Mr. Yang became known for being one of the democratic candidates with the highest profiles. At the same time, he has also talked many times about Bitcoin (BTC) and digital currencies.

Universal Bitcoin Income?

During a recent episode of Off The Pill presidential candidate Andrew Yang discussed his policies related to the Universal Basic Income (UBI). He has also talked about how Asian Americans should be more involved in politics in the United States.

He explained that the UBI is a policy in which every citizen gets a certain amount of money to meet their basic needs. He said that he would like to give $1,000 to each U.S. citizen above the age of 18.

Mr. Yang explained that there have been several initiatives related to a UBI in the United States, which could help families in the country. He has also mentioned that technology is the “oil” of the 21st century.

When asked about how he would pay for the UBI he mentioned he would do so by taxing large companies such as Amazon or Netflix that pay very low taxes.

During the conversation, he was asked whether instead of a Universal Basic Income he thought about a Universal Bitcoin Income in order to pay the $1,000 per month to each U.S. citizen above the age of 18.

Although he didn’t answer anything specific about it, he said that he liked where the conversation was moving to. He mentioned that although there was a period of hype in the cryptocurrency community, the underlying technology of digital assets (blockchain) is very innovative.

The presidential candidate has also stated he has several friends in the crypto community that have experience in the space and that know a lot about the virtual currency market.

He then started talking about data and how to protect it. Companies are currently selling users’ data and profiting from it while not sharing the price at which it is being sold.

Yang mentioned that data is valued at different prices according to the specific features of each user. Travellers and individuals with health conditions have their data sold for much higher prices than normal people. Yang wants companies to share with users the money they make of their data.

Whether it would be possible to pay for a Universal Bitcoin Income remains to be seen.