LGBTQ scene as a target group
Will Maricoin convince the crypto scene?
01/27/2022, 3:45 p.m
Even before the official start, more than 10,000 people are already on the waiting list to get hold of a new cryptocurrency for the LGBTQ scene at a reduced price. With the Maricoin developed in Spain, the founders want nothing less than to change the world. But even the name causes trouble.
A new digital currency is causing a stir in the crypto world – the Maricoin developed in Spain. It was specially designed to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and, according to its founders, stands for equal treatment and against any kind of discrimination.
But its name alone is causing controversial discussions in the industry: Maricoin is based on the Spanish word “maricon”, which can be translated into German as “fag”. From February 22nd, Maricoin should be tradable on the major cryptocurrency platforms. The 48-year-old co-founder Juan Belmonte wants nothing less than to change the world with Maricoin and to promote the LGBTQ community in particular: “We can provide microcredit so that people open a small LGBTQ-friendly café in Colombia or support projects that help queer refugees, to flee countries where they are being stoned to death,” he says.
Not lucky with the choice of name
The trained hairdresser had the idea at a party on Christopher Street Day in Madrid. More than 10,000 people are now on the waiting list to get discounted Maricoins before the official launch in February, Belmonte reports. In a queer part of Madrid, Maricoin started as a pilot project with a few companies at the end of 2021. The digital coins should soon be available and usable all over the world.
“The companies and merchants that accept our digital coin will be on a map that will serve as an LGBTQ guide for anyone visiting any city,” explains Francisco Alcarez, head of US financial investor Borderless Capital, the Belmonte as a partner fetched. “But if you violate a point of our anti-discrimination manifesto, for example by dismissing a pregnant woman because of her pregnancy, you will be kicked out of the Maricon network.
Belmonte is celebrated for the initiative in social networks, but according to critics he was not lucky with the choice of name. Hundreds of users describe the name as disrespectful towards the queer community because of its derivation from the Spanish word maricon, and parallels to other homophobic swear words are also drawn. The 23-year-old student David Gonzalez can’t understand the criticism: “In Spain, gays keep saying that to each other.” It would be different if a heterosexual called him that, but Maricoin is specifically aimed at the LGBTQ group.
LGBTQ group too small to establish currency quickly
Exactly this focus on just one group of people is another point of criticism in the Internet forums. Above all, there are doubts about the success of Maricoin. “You need a large number of users to establish the currency quickly,” says David Yermack, finance professor at New York’s Stern School of Business. The LGBTQ group is too small and spread too far across the globe for that.
A similar initiative from the social network Hornet in 2018 with the LGBT token never achieved a breakthrough. In 2020, the founders converted the crypto platform into an electronic wallet that can be used to pay with traditional currencies. Nonetheless, Hornet CEO Cristoff Wittig believes there is a market for a cryptocurrency tailored for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
“In principle, a decentralized technology like cryptocurrency fits perfectly with a decentralized community like ours.” According to a study by the Swiss bank Credit Suisse, the purchasing power of the LGBT community is huge. If the market were an economy, it would rank fourth behind Japan and ahead of Germany.