The maricoin, a play on words taken from a homophobic slur in Spanish, was launched on Friday in a week-long pilot test involving 10 businesses in Chueca, known as the LGBTQ+ neighbourhood of Spain’s capital, Madrid.
Maricoin’s backers are aiming for the virtual currency to start trading early next year, paving the way for it to be used as a means of payment at LGBTQ-friendly businesses and events worldwide. “Since we move this economy, why shouldn’t our community profit from it, instead of banks, insurance companies or big corporations that often don’t help LGBT+ people?” co-founder Juan Belmonte, 48, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.