In South Korea, every person is entitled to a 100,000 won ($83) payout as COVID-19 relief. Some provinces already have local digital currencies and used this for the relief payments. Gyeonggi-do Province, home to 12 million people, is a good example. It already had in place a universal basic income for a year for those aged under 24.
Plus, the province has its Gyeonggi Money application, which is widely accepted in stores, but to help support small businesses, it targets shops with revenues of less than 1 billion Won ($830,000). If they have a card acceptance terminal, it is automatically enabled for the local currency and there is a 0.3% reduction in the card fees. Consumers can also purchase the currency at a 6% discount.
The key is that the money and hence the income support can only be used locally at these small businesses, and the income support has to be used within three months or it will expire.
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