Out of the closets and into the economy.
Advocates for the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer community estimate the international “pink economy” totals about $4.6 trillion. If the LGBTQ community were a country, its GDP would rank fourth in the world behind Japan and ahead of Germany. In the U.S. alone, LGBTQ buying power approaches $1 trillion.
That’s a lot of coin. And that’s why the Hong Kong-based LGBT Foundation just announced its intent to create a “pink” cryptocurrency. The potential currency combines economic and social goals, according to a statement from Christof Wittig, president of the LGBT Foundation.
Money talks, which is why the proposed pink crypto might make the world listen.
“We are designing the LGBT Token with the primary intention of benefiting and empowering the LGBT community. With the principles of pseudonymity, scalability, functionality and decentralization guiding the project, the LGBT Foundation aims to create an every day, secure, and mass-adopted cryptocurrency,” she said.
From Pages to Blockchain
If pink crypto is successful, it could show other communities how they might follow suit. Many affinity and identity groups have created advocacy organizations to solidify their cumulative economic power. For example, the Houston Black Pages reflects the longstanding tradition of ethnic minority phone and business directories. In a paper published by the Acton Institute, an evangelical Christian think tank, D. Eric Schansberg, a professor of economics at Indiana University Southeast, urges believers to understand the impact of their economic clout on policy proposals.
Money talks, which is why the proposed pink crypto might make the world listen, says Jonathan D. Lovitz, senior vice president for the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce in Washington. “One of the most effective ways for LGBTQ people to assert their rights is through economic power,” he tells ThirtyK. Any tool that quantifies the collective clout of the LGBTQ or any other affinity or identity group focuses individual power into a force that the group can use for advocacy of all sorts, he adds.
