This Biohacking Company Is Using a Crypto City to Test Controversial Gene Therapies

February 14, 2023

(MIT Technology Review) – The advertisement—posted on Mirror, a Web3 publishing platform, in March last year—outlined an eye-catching if perhaps confusing proposal: “Access NFTs for a follistatin plasmid phase I clinical trial in Prospera ZEDE, Honduras.” The ad had been posted by a biotech startup called Minicircle, which was recruiting participants for a clinical trial of gene therapy. But several details made it unusual. For one, it instructed would-be guinea pigs to purchase an NFT to take part. Upon completing the study, it promised, they would receive payment in cryptocurrency. And while it notes the geographical location of the trial, test subjects may not have immediately understood that it would get underway in what is essentially an experimental crypto city—Próspera, Honduras. (Read More)