In brief
- Block.one has awarded a $50,000 grant to Genobank.io.
- The blockchain-based company is co-developing an app for COVID-19 testing.
- Block.one, which purportedly raised $4 billion in an ICO, is also supporting other health-tech companies.
Block.one, the company behind the EOS blockchain, announced today that it has awarded a $50,000 grant to blockchain company Genobank.io to help facilitate the development of an app to aid with novel coronavirus (COVID-19) testing.
The open-source app, called Agerona, is being developed in collaboration with the Telos Foundation. Once available in May, it will allow users to source low-cost COVID-19 tests and then have their results available via the Telos blockchain, where they can choose to share it with medical professionals and even researchers as desired.
The grant was awarded via Block.one's EOS VC Grants program in partnership with FinLab EOS VC.
“As an EOS VC Grants recipient, we are grateful to have the backing and support of Block.one’s venture arm EOS VC in aiding our efforts to anonymized DNA/RNA test kits (including coronavirus), while empowering patients and users to decide if they want their anonymized data to be available to the scientific community and help control the spread of the coronavirus and potentially contribute to a treatment,” said Genobank.io CEO Daniel Uribe, in a release.
Block.one is the company behind purportedly the richest initial coin offering (ICO) to date at $4 billion, which resulted in a $24 million fine levied by the SEC.
The company is trying to put some of that money to good use: beyond Genobank.io, Block.one has also invested in other blockchain health-tech companies. Health and wellness platform PUML and research company Innoplexus have both pivoted to assist with coronavirus-related needs of late, according to a Block.one release.
“We’ve witnessed the growth of an open source community whose passion and innovation have helped to identify and solve critical business problems in sectors ranging from art to wellness,” said Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer, in a release. “With the onset of urgent world issues caused by the coronavirus, it is important that we empower and support the ways that blockchain technology is being applied to provide solutions.”
Many other blockchain-based and decentralized projects have also been working to aid in COVID-19 recovery and release, ranging from IBM’s blockchain network for suppliers to a symptom-tracking app and even the long-running Folding@home, which is now harnessing the power of one million remote PCs to help find coronavirus remedies.