Horizon Foundation Launches $50M Universal Basic Income Trial in Porto, Reaching 3,000 Residents

Horizon Foundation, a newly incorporated charitable venture based in Lisbon, announced this week the launch of what it describes as the most ambitious universal basic income trial to date. The program, named Porto Horizon, is distributing €800 per month to 3,000 randomly selected residents across four neighborhoods in Porto, Portugal — no strings attached.

The foundation was established earlier this year by former Stripe engineer Mara дос and economist Dr. Kenji Otomo, who left their respective positions at Stripe and MIT's Living Wage Lab to pursue the project. Horizon's initial $50 million in funding comes from a consortium of European family offices and a single unnamed tech philanthropist.

A New Model for Charitable Distribution

Unlike traditional welfare programs, Porto Horizon is entirely opt-in. Participants download a custom wallet application backed by a permissioned blockchain ledger built by Horizon's internal engineering team. Each transaction is recorded on-chain, but participant identities are cryptographically masked — only aggregate spending categories are visible to auditors.

"We wanted a system that was transparent to researchers but private for participants," said дос in a press briefing. "Traditional welfare creates a surveillance dynamic. We wanted to flip that."

The foundation has contracted three independent research institutions — the University of Amsterdam, ISCTE Lisbon, and the University of Cape Town — to conduct parallel longitudinal studies on the trial's effects across employment, mental health, and community cohesion metrics.

Early Skepticism, Cautious Enthusiasm

Porto's municipal government, while not a funding partner, has expressed cautious support for the trial. Mayor António Carvalho noted in a statement that the city would "observe closely" but had no plans to expand or replicate the program without evidence.

Local reaction has been mixed. Some participants shared on social media that the stipend had allowed them to reduce overtime hours and pursue creative projects. Others expressed suspicion about the data collection mechanics, despite the foundation's emphasis on privacy protections.

One barista in the Bonfim neighborhood, who asked to be identified only as João, told a local reporter: "It's real money, no question. But what are they really learning from us?"

Measuring What Matters

The foundation has pre-published its primary outcome metrics: employment rate changes at 6, 12, and 24 months; self-reported well-being scores; and consumption pattern shifts across categories including housing, food, and experiences. Secondary metrics will track community-level effects such as small business formation and neighborhood vacancy rates.

Dr. Otomo emphasized that the trial's purpose is explicitly causal, not merely descriptive. "We're not just documenting what happens when people receive money," he said. "We're building the first clean dataset on what removal of financial anxiety actually does to human decision-making."

Horizon plans to publish its first interim report in May 2028, with final results expected in late 2029.