{"id":275186,"date":"2026-01-09T02:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/275186\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T02:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:32:07","slug":"they-want-better-health-care-so-theyre-turning-to-crypto-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/275186\/","title":{"rendered":"They want better health care \u2014 so they’re turning to crypto startups"},"content":{"rendered":"

By his own admission, the company that Andrew Verbinnen<\/a> cofounded is a vanity project \u2014 literally.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s called HairDAO<\/a>, and it was born out of a problem he and his business partner, Andrew Bakst<\/a>, share with roughly two-thirds of men 35 and younger: thinning, receding hair. The cofounders, neither of whom have a background in medical science, were \u201cselfishly obsessed with hair loss,\u201d Verbinnen, who is 30 and has had a hair transplant, tells me. They were also frustrated because there are only two Food and Drug Administration-approved (FDA) treatments for male pattern baldness: finasteride and minoxidil. While the treatments do slow hair loss and encourage new hair growth (respectively) for most patients, they\u2019re not going to achieve Verbinnen\u2019s mission \u201cto turn a slick bald scalp fully hairy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside the walls of doctors\u2019 offices and university labs \u2014 outside of any walls, in fact \u2014 Verbinnen and Bakst saw what they considered an untapped goldmine: countless anonymous \u201cresearchers\u201d coming up with new theories about how to treat hair loss and, in some cases, testing their ideas on themselves. The subreddit r\/tressless<\/a> boasts nearly half a million weekly visitors; r\/hairloss<\/a> has another 37,000 per week. But that supposed treasure trove was organized more like a junk drawer. Instead, the solution to identifying the best possible treatments and getting them made was obvious to Verbinnen: cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n

Not the obvious answer to you? It wasn\u2019t to me either. And yet HairDAO is one of a handful of crypto-health care startups that have attracted patients \u2014 who are also investors \u2014 looking for better solutions with a lot less red tape. Are they just another speculative investment, or a viable alternative to a frustrating health care system? Here\u2019s what I learned.<\/p>\n

What does cryptocurrency have to do with health care?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Great question, I had the same one. And it really varies a lot from organization to organization.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, DAO stands for decentralized autonomous organization. It\u2019s a fancy way of saying that there\u2019s no central party \u2014 a board, government officials, a CEO \u2014 governing the group. Instead, its members are the decision-makers. As Verbinnen explains it, instead of scientists, the government and private companies choosing what hair research gets funded, the people who would benefit from that research decide. Here\u2019s how it works: People buy a cryptocurrency token \u2014 in this case, one called HAIR (valued at $32.51 at the time of publication). Each token gives its owner one vote on which ideas to pursue, and HairDAO then uses the funds raised to conduct that research.<\/p>\n

HairDAO conducted its first study in the lab of University of Miami Miller School of Medicine dermatologist Ralf Paus<\/a>, which resulted in the first product sold by its sister company, Anagen<\/a>. It\u2019s a topical version of T3, a thyroid hormone that\u2019s FDA-approved in pill form to treat low levels of the hormone. Now, HairDAO conducts research on donated human hair follicles in petri dishes in its own New York City lab as proof of concept that drugs approved for other uses might work to treat hair loss. Verbinnen says the lab does this at a fraction of the cost of a study conducted at a university.<\/p>\n

The company does not do clinical studies on humans or animals. And it doesn\u2019t encourage users to conduct experiments on themselves \u2014 though some do anyway, Verbinnen says. But it does collect data on how well its products actually work based on feedback from its community members (there are about 3,000 members on its Discord server). Members who submit their data are rewarded with cryptocurrency, and that information is used to determine whether a treatment is working.<\/p>\n

Is more research the same as better research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for HairDAO\u2019s products, Verbinnen and his cofounder have both tested and still use one or more of its products on themselves and say their hair loss has \u201cstabilized.\u201d Verbinnen\u2019s mom also tested one of his company\u2019s products and had her hair follicles scanned by a special machine in the HairDAO lab<\/a>, which showed a visible increase in the number of strands, Verbinnen says.<\/p>\n

This so-called decentralized science (also known as DeSci), which takes place outside of the silos of research institutions, \u201cis, in the simplest, most fundamental way of framing it, kind of the exact opposite of peer-review, which is kind of what science has been built on,\u201d Aditya Narayan<\/a>, a Stanford University medical school student who published a paper<\/a> about DeSci, tells me.<\/p>\n

Narayan is in favor of making research and information more accessible, but he has serious concerns. \u201cFrom a clinical safety standpoint, a lot of this work doesn\u2019t necessarily eliminate the need for professional oversight,\u201d Narayan says. \u201cWe have to transition access to meaningful use, and there is almost no regulation of direct-to-consumer [products].\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, one of HairDAO\u2019s contributors, a \u201cself-taught biologist\u201d known as Jumpman, who \u201chas become one of the most prolific hair loss researchers in the world,\u201d according to the company\u2019s website, reportedly tested<\/a> a chemotherapy drug<\/a> on himself as part of his hair loss \u201ccure\u201d protocol and allegedly convinced others to go in on a \u201cgroup\u201d buy of the chemical with him, which some called dangerous. HairDAO also lacks a formalized system for reporting side effects, aside from Discord chatter (although Verbinnen says it will eventually implement one).<\/p>\n

Putting patients in the driver\u2019s seat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some crypto-based groups aim not only to empower patients but also to help them avoid potentially dangerous side effects of certain treatments and medications.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Severtsgaard, 54, credits the organization Community Empowerment Through Health Information<\/a> (CEtHI), which plans to use the technology that underlies cryptocurrency to store patient data, for helping her narrowly dodge a cancer drug that might have caused her serious harm.<\/p>\n

In April of 2024, Severtsgaard\u2019s oncologist told her that she had Stage 1 triple-negative cancer, an aggressive form that had been caught early. She was told it would require surgery and possibly chemotherapy. After a double mastectomy, Severtsgaard wanted to know more about her specific\u00a0cancer before deciding whether to undergo chemotherapy or any other medical treatments.<\/p>\n

Cancer is sometimes described as being as unique as the individual who has it<\/a> because even cancers of the same type, subtype and location can have unique gene mutations. In an ideal world, each person\u2019s individual cancer might be treated differently. In practice, the number of proven, safe treatments are limited. Doctors and patients alike often don\u2019t have the time and resources for completely bespoke treatments.<\/p>\n

When Severtsgaard asked for further testing that might indicate different or more targeted therapies or whether chemotherapy was necessary, her doctor told her it was pointless. \u201cI was basically patted on the head and told, \u2018Stay off Google,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But Severtsgaard didn\u2019t stay off Google. Instead, she delayed chemotherapy treatment and searched for an oncologist who would listen to her and give her the answers she wanted to. It took four tries, but she found a doctor who would do just that. She also found Paola Raska<\/a>, a genetic epidemiologist and founder of CEtHI. Raska analyzed the extensive results of Severtsgaard\u2019s tests and helped identify treatments that might work well for Severtsgaard, and at least one drug that could have caused a life-threatening complication. Severtsgaard underwent treatment, including chemotherapy, starting in April of 2025 and, by November, was cancer-free.<\/p>\n

A lofty goal with serious consequences<\/strong><\/p>\n

Raska\u2019s mission is to help patients compile as much specific information as possible about their health conditions \u2014 beginning with breast cancer \u2014 so they can make more informed decisions about their care. She\u2019s currently building a platform using the same technology that underpins cryptocurrency \u2014 blockchain \u2014 because it provides data security and a record that can only be modified by its owner (in this case, the patient). Raska does not intend to sell tokens, allowing patients to be part of her project, and believes the platform will put them in the driver\u2019s seat of their own care, potentially opening up more individualized treatment options. She views leaving patients out of the decision-making process and failing to utilize every available tool as a bigger problem than the risk of putting people without medical education in charge of their treatment. Severtsgaard is a sort of proof-of-concept case. This approach led to effective treatment and remission in her case.<\/p>\n

Many oncologists support shared decision-making<\/a>, in which doctors and patients talk through options together to land on a treatment plan that both are comfortable with. Both Raska and Narayan say there\u2019s often still an imbalance \u2014 patients aren\u2019t given enough information and aren\u2019t always listened to. DAOs might be able to improve that dynamic. \u201cAs clinicians and scientists, we can\u2019t solve so many of the [health issues] that people deal with,\u201d says Naryan. \u201cPeople have found this democratized structure to find solutions that, as doctors, we don\u2019t really have.\u201d<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t always the outcome when a patient\u2019s opinions are weighted more heavily than a doctor\u2019s. However, Raska\u2019s hope is that models like CEtHI can empower patients, while also helping them connect with medical experts willing to listen to their concerns, consider all the available health information and steer them clear of potentially risky or unproven treatments.<\/p>\n

Crypto-enabled models for health care might \u201cdemocratize\u201d the process, but they\u2019re not free from risk \u2014 or financial incentives. \u201cThe democratization direction is the correct one, but there are very obvious profit motives\u201d when someone\u2019s number of votes is determined by how many tokens they\u2019ve bought, says Narayan. And, perhaps more importantly, he adds, “being part of a DAO has a very emotional appeal, but it doesn\u2019t guarantee better access or outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By his own admission, the company that Andrew Verbinnen cofounded is a vanity project \u2014 literally. It\u2019s called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[139469,139470,4035,18,16801,135,475,474,19,17,17406,94,2897,139468],"class_list":{"0":"post-275186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-aditya-narayan","9":"tag-andrew-bakst","10":"tag-cryptocurrency","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-hair-loss","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-health-care","15":"tag-healthcare","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-researchers","19":"tag-treatment","20":"tag-treatments","21":"tag-verbinnen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115862801140678093","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}