TRON Founder Backs US Presidential Candidate With Matching UBI Pledge

Andrew Yang, a democratic hopeful in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, has proposed many radical ideas including one to provide a universal basic income of $1,000/month for every citizen. As part of his election campaign, Yang announced Friday at a debate that he intends to use part of his campaign funds to trial the UBI scheme for 10 people.

Yang and Sun Experiment

The official motive behind the move is clearly to highlight how much difference the money would make to some families. However, more cynical commentators cited in a The New York Times report accuse Yang of attempting to buy votes with his plan. They allege that the use of campaign funds in such a way is against federal law. In a somewhat surprising move, Justin Sun, the brains behind the blockchain project TRON, has pledged to extend Yang’s trial of universal basic income to a further 100 people using his own money. Given that any money gifted from the 29-year-old billionaire would be from his pocket, rather than a political campaign, so the legality of his own pledge is far less questionable than that of Yang.

Yang’s initiative to UBI $1k to 10 ppl per mth for 1 yr, I'll pledge UBI $1k to 100 ppl per mth in 2020! I'll pick 1 to attend lunch w/ me & @WarrenBuffett 2020! I'll let Yang assist me in picking the lucky 100! Join us! #YANG2020 @AndrewYang https://t.co/YQFnXwXtuf

— Justin Sun🌞 (@justinsuntron) September 13, 2019

In addition to the monthly $1,000 for a year, Sun is offering one of the 100, selected by himself and Yang, the opportunity to attend his forthcoming lunch meeting with legendary investor Warren Buffet. Sun paid $4.6 million in a charity auction to meet the man who famously called Bitcoin “rat poison squared.” In July, Sun postponed the meeting, citing health concerns. To the best of BeInCrypto’s knowledge, the meeting has not been rescheduled as of yet.

Another Gimmick?

TRON’s CEO is a somewhat controversial figure in the digital currency industry. For those that support the project, his constant media presence is great for awareness and moves like him buying BitTorrent are strokes of entrepreneurial genius. Others in the cryptocurrency industry accuse Sun of shamelessly promoting a project that has produced little of substance in the few years that it has been alive. One thing the entrepreneur has drawn substantial criticism for is his retweet-style promotional giveaways. In March of this year, for example, he attempted to raffle a Tesla and shares of $20 million. Shady goings-on around the whole debacle, reported by BeInCrypto, led some in the industry to accuse Sun of using the promotion as a way to launder money. What do you think about Justin Sun’s match of Yang’s UBI pledge? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.  Buy and trade cryptocurrencies with a 100x multiplier on our partner exchange, StormGain.