Bio-Chips & Bitcoins Under The Skin

Cyberpunks will rejoice after they hear that body hacking is becoming more and more popular every day. In fact, one of the most prevalent implementations of the subject is NFC chips implanted in someone’s hand that holds data and funds under the skin. Biohacking has been around for 10-12 years but within the past two years, many people are making headlines for carrying wallets in their bodies rather than their back pockets.

Recently a news report spoke with a man named Meow-Ludo, who is the founder of Biofoundry, a lab based in Sydney, Australia. Meow-Ludo has an NFC chip implanted in his thumb that holds 868-bytes of data. Someday Meow hopes to integrate certain payment protocols under his skin such as Mastercard’s PayPass but will need a bigger chip for the service. Meow believes in the biohacking experience and thinks it will fundamentally change the future in the coming years. Another interesting aspect of Meow’s Biofoundry lab is the team’s creation of its prototype the “Pussy Protector” – a LAMP device that easily home-tests for common STIs and UTIs.

Then there are those who are embedding decentralized cryptocurrency wallets under their skin. One man made headlines in 2014 for having two Bitcoin wallets with one implanted in each hand. A Dutch entrepreneur named Martijn Wismeijer, has an NFC-chip in one hand for hot wallet purposes and keeps cold storage in his other hand. Each chip holds 880 bytes of data and both are NFC Type 2 compliant NTAG216 RFID chipsets. The chips are quite small and are roughly 2 millimeters by 12 millimeters and were injected under his skin.

Since 2014 the popularity of wallet-chips and Bitcoins under people’s skin have become increasingly popular among hackers and cyberpunks. Recently back in February, a video surfaced from the Czech-based Paralelní Polis showing a man using this bio-technology at the three-story crypto-anarchist loft in Prague. Then in May a news reporter from the publication BuzzFeed, Charlie Warzel wrote a large editorial called “Satan’s Credit Card: What The Mark Of The Beast Taught Me About The Future Of Money” and got an implant for the special report. Warzel explains his chip experience with the decentralized cryptocurrency Bitcoin:

“It was the beginning of week four and bitcoin had driven me deeper into my hermetic state — most of my purchases were being made online and my relation to the real world was almost exclusively conducted through a screen of some sort.”

The enthusiasm of artificial intelligence and the mixture of biology has gained strong interest across the globe. Even Forbes explains the popularity of Biohacking growth in an article called “Move Over Hackers, Biohackers Are Here.” With author Jennifer Hicks stating, “Biohackers clearly sit on the fringe of the tech, academia, and VC communities. There’s no home for them in this world of labels and boxes, so they just make their own homes around the globe.” To some people, the phenomenon is just too weird and believe the combination of biology and technology are becoming blurred between the lines. It’s not uncommon to see people walking the streets with Blue Tooth ear pieces, Google Glasses, and smartphones at their wastes. Biohackers want to take it to the next level with implants and devices that work within the body. Voluntarily of course. 😉

Below readers at Live Bitcoin News can watch these three videos showing the fascinating concept of Bitcoin wallet and cold storage implants. Cheers! 

Source: PYMNTS.com, Forbes, Buzzfeed, Paralelní Polis, and Biofoundry Lab