Blockstack announced today that it will be paying off student loans for a lucky four people.
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Pointing out that 20% of Americans currently carry student loan debt, a press release from the token platform says that anyone can apply for a chance to have up to $60,000 of their student loan debt cleared out.
Only four entrants will be chosen, one per week over the next four weeks, so you’ll want to get your entry in as soon as possible.
In an effort to highlight blockchain technology’s potential for economic justice, the firm will be neutralizing the debt of one person per week. Blockstack is using the opportunity to flex its status as a “public benefit corporation dedicated to empowering people through blockchain technology.”
In prepared remarks, Blockstack CEO Muneeb Ali continued:
“Blockstack PBC firmly believes that everyone should be free to own their identity, data, and future. Paying off student loan debt not only makes sense for Blockstack’s core belief of a life free from corporate control, but it is also an initiative that I would have loved to participate in as a struggling computer science student. I moved from Pakistan to Sweden and lived off the dollar menu and whatever food was available in the research labs, so I can completely relate to feeling stifled by taking on so much debt in order to get my career off the ground.”
The campaign is called #DeleteYourDebt.
#DeleteYourDebt
To enroll and potentially win, visit deleteyourdebt.co and follow instructions to sign up. The company says it will pick one person each week for a debt repayment of up to $60,000.
The average student in the US owes between $26-$33,000, which means a few people might get a serious jump start in life as a result of the program.
Many people carry their debt well into their 30s, if they repay it all. The situation in the United States has reached a fever pitch, with Democratic presidential favorite Elizabeth Warren proposing a plan to eliminate most or all of the student debt and establishing a system of government-funded college.
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Nevertheless, a resurgence in the wider economy would probably yield better results. A working debtor system requires working debtors. The blockchain industry can create jobs, but to grow it requires mass public interest.
Blockstack is one of the successful blockchain companies launched on the ICO model. The announcement follows Blockstack’s partnering integration with Blockchain.com, one of the largest blockchain wallet providers in the world.
Its most recent round sold over 800,000 tokens at a starting bid of 30 cents each.
Currently, STX trade at around 21 cents per token, with a general downturn in the crypto market playing an important role. The price is approximately an 8% drop over the 24-hour period.
STX (Stacks) are useful on the Blockstack ecosystem, which is attempting to build the equivalent of a Play Store for decentralized applications.
To date, the suite of development tools has yielded dozens of interesting blockchain-based applications, both public and business-facing. The company’s promoting the development of real-world dApps and its willingness to experiment with other ways to widen its reach (such as this loan repayment giveaway) both point to a model for how blockchain companies should likely behave during a down market.
If the fishing is bad close to shore, cast your net wider. Student debt affects a massive part of the target crypto demographic, or millenials who prefer digital interactions, making the move a wise marketing play, as well.
