GenomesDAO Kickoff AMA
Primer: On 16 November 2021, GenomesDAO will be launching their GENE token on Miso by SushiSwap. This fundraising will be used for business development, expanding their partnerships with national sequencing organizations to increase the number of genomes sequenced in their vaults. Learn about their project, the GENE and GNOME tokens and how they can be used to generate passive income for users.
Bigger Picture Of GenomesDAO
Raising money through a Miso launch. Planned to have a billion genome sequenced in the long-term
GenomesDAO will do the sequencing for people and return ownership of the data back to these people/owners
Data is stored in vaults that owners control. Pharmaceutical companies and research organizations need to seek permission from vault owners to access the data inside
If access is granted, vault owners earn passive income from their data
GenomesDAO is trying to achieve scale. The more genomes they sequence, the more value they provide to pharmaceutical companies and research organizations
They also assist people with the sequencing as there's a lot of value in that data. Trying to educate as many people as possible as that data is the blueprint to who they are
If people work with direct-to-consumer companies such as 23andMe and other ancestry companies, they end up ceding ownership of their data to these companies
Partnership With Alchemix
The goal of GenomesDAO is to increase the number and diversity of genomes sequenced in their vaults. Genomes are sequenced when users complete test kits. However, test kits are costly. Their partnership with Alchemix and their self-paying loans will enable the distribution of these test kits to users.
Pharmaceutical companies and research organizations are the purchasers of genomic data. They prefer diverse datasets from as many demographic groups as possible
Competitors such as 23andMe started off by distributing their genome kits to the surrounding area in Palo Alto. This limits them to one demographic of genomes
In North America, a lot of people already have their genome sequenced
In the developing world and Southeast Asia, not many people have their genome sequenced
Test kits are costly and are priced at ~$500
The team is using Alchemix's self-paying loans to distribute their kits to the community. Once people get their genome sequenced, it is placed in a vault and they can earn passive income from their genome
Owners will get a notification on their phones every time a pharmaceutical company/research organization wants to query their data. If approved, they will be granted a one-time access to the owner's vault. In return, the owner will be paid for granting access
Vaults can be thought of as individual crypto wallets
Alchemix idea is to use DeFi to fund public goods:
Lock Ethereum —> use stablecoin to pay for the genome kits —> give kits to the underserved population
The Genomic Data Market And Where They Fit In
Pharmaceutical companies and research organizations want to query large quantities of data
These types of deals have already been struck. In 2018, GlaxoSmithKline paid $300 million to 23andMe to query 5 million exomes. None of that $300 million went back to the 5 million people who are the actual owners of the data
People are unaware that when they get their genomes sequenced, the entity doing the sequencing gets to keep and monetize their data
Genomes are stored in vaults that only the owners can access
When GenomesDAO receive a query request from a pharmaceutical company or research organization, they will seek permission from vault owners to release their data to these entities. Each query request is treated independently
Owners will be informed of what their data is being used for as well as the rewards they will receive
Projections for genomic sequencing show that by 2025, 1.2 billion people will have their genome sequenced. GenomesDAO want to capture as much of that as possible, with a target of 1 billion
Short term plan is to work with individuals. Their long term plan is to work with organizations
Is building an organization platform that allows charities and rare disease organizations to upload genomes on behalf of their members
Blockchains enable the repeat consent and repeat querying of the encrypted vaults
"The different DeFi workflows are allowing us to, I think, for the first time, use DeFi for physical goods, and whether it's a public good, or whether it's your own personal good." - Mark Hahnel
The current model is broken. When people use 23andMe or any other ancestry companies, they are paying these companies to:
Make money from sequencing your data
Make money from selling your data
There's no other model than the broken model. Hence, GenomesDAO is coming in to provide a better model
Their Miso Launch
Launch on 16 November 2021
Trying to raise 1000 ETH as their goal
Building the GenomesDAO
Have 2 tokens in their ecosystem:
GENE: utility token
GNOME: governance token
GENE is available only in the public sale on 16 November
In order to earn GNOME, one needs to stake GENE
GenomesDAO will be looking at profit sharing and having a steady flow of income for investors
"I was just thinking about memes. And this whole idea of not your keys, not your coins, you know, not your vault, not your data, right?" - Mark Hahnel
GENE can be used to get your kit and start making income on your genetic data
With better understanding of their genome, people can start to treat themselves better going forward
CRE8R DAO will be incentivizing people with CRE8R tokens to participate in the Genomes Miso launch
Exchange rate for the launch: 1 ETH = 300,000 GENE tokens
Buyers can spend any amount of ETH for GENE tokens
The Miso launch will run for 1 week or when they have met their goal, whichever comes first
Everyone will get in at the same price
Their pre-seed had a 100 ETH cap. No one entity could deposit more than 2 ETH
Short-Term Goal: 10,000 Genomic Sequences
They have identified 10,000 as a critical threshold
Each customer will have his/her own vault
GenomesDAO do not just broker B2C relationships. They also partner with organizations directly
Partnered with an initiative in Australia that looks at rare genetic diseases within the indigenous community. This organization have 2000 individuals who would like to have their genome sequenced. This allows GenomesDAO to open up 2000 vaults just by working with this organization
Did a big campaign on Indiegogo. Had many people buying the kits directly
In the near future, kits will also be sold through their site
For B2B, they are working with a number of national sequencing initiatives
Quite confident that they will hit 10,000 genomic sequences soon
Vaults For National Sequencing Initiatives
For individuals who participate through a national sequencing initiative, they would each have a vault as well
However, their vaults will be kept separate and be part of that specific initiative
"I think all these things you're saying are great, the way that you have the ability to kind of take the ideas of Genomes, and market it and express it in crypto native terms, like describing the legacy genomic sequencing companies as rugs." - Fugu
The individuals can then inform the team whether they would like to participate in the mainstream database
Can People Upload Their Sequence To GenomesDAO's Vaults?
Genome data is saved in VCF file format
GenomesDAO technology will accept VCF files
Individuals can request their VCF file from 23andMe and Ancestry if they have existing accounts with them
These companies were in the news regarding hacks/privacy breaches or someone not agreeing with their data to be used in a particular manner. People are becoming more uncomfortable with having their data with these companies
Possible for existing customers of these companies to request for their accounts to be closed and their data to be removed if they are concerned about these data breaches
GenomesDAO sequencing is chemical grade and more granular than their competitors
Their Team
Mark is their geneticist
Have people who understand the DAO space
Working with bioinformaticians who know how to develop code around genetic data. Want to give users better reports so that they can understand their DNA data better
6 people in charge of front-end development
Have a number of developers dealing with cryptography to ensure that their technology links up to the AMD tech stack that they are using
The capital raised through the Miso launch will be used to recruit more developers and for business development
Programming Language Used
For front-end development, they are using Javascript
Their cryptography uses the AES SEV technology from AMD
There are opportunities for developers to contribute to Genomes DAO
Their Products
Their mobile app is already available in the app store
People have bought their test kits on Indiegogo and data is already available in their vaults
Two reasons why they use blockchain:
Every query is cemented on the blockchain
Formed as a DAO so that users have a say and control over how these vaults will be used
They do not put any genomic data on the blockchain. Data is stored in a vault that is not on the blockchain
What is stored on the blockchain is the audit of when the data is queried and for what purpose
"We can literally put our money where our mouth is when we say you can make passive income. That's really what the token allows us to do." - Aldo De Pape
Mobile App Features
Opening the app will lead users to a dashboard where it states that their sequence is safe in the vault
App will be able to receive query offers and users will be paid in GENE tokens if they accept them
Users will be able to view reports on their ancestry
The team is looking into offering reports that will provide users with information on hereditary diseases
Will eventually be offering more reports on the dashboard
Building their API to integrate with pharmaceutical companies and research organizations
Getting Community Involvement
Have received plenty of interest from the community wanting to contribute
Before the launch, they will have a GenomesDAO day where they will try and fit community members to suitable roles
Running a meme contest. Participants can win up to 1 ETH worth of GENE tokens for a meme and following their Twitter account
The goal of the meme contest is to help people understand what the project is about
Logistics For Distributing Test Kits
Through Indiegogo, users were able to buy a test kit at a ~80% discount
Will have to check with the logistics personnel if something similar could still be done. The kits will be sold at a deeply discounted rate
Tokenomics
GENE Token
Deflationary utility token
Selling 30% of the token supply at launch
Every time the tokens are used, a portion of it gets burnt
Reserving the remaining GENE tokens for pharmaceutical companies to purchase
GNOME Token
Think of it as kind of like Yearn Finance
Only way to get GNOME tokens is to stake GENE
There will be 2 pools:
GENE-ETH pool to earn GNOME
GNOME-ETH pool to earn GENE
Will inherently have value as it used to govern/own the company
Total supply of 10 million
Scaling Their Business
Funds raised will be used for business development
Most countries have a national genome organization. Will want to partner with them
UK has a 5 million genome project. They are looking to get involved
The way for them to scale is through the B2B level
Using The DNA To Benefit One's Life
Aiming to be an app store for genomes. Test providers would want access to their marketplace
Currently, there are hundreds of apps out there that are able to inform user's health status from tests done (e.g. screening for breast cancer, etc.)
Test providers charge for these reports. Most of the cost is attributed to the cost of genome sequencing
The GenomesDAO marketplace reduces the cost for test providers since they do not need to get the genome of users sequenced. Test providers are able to provide cheaper service while maintaining high profit margins
Users pay GENE tokens to get a report and the test provider gets paid for it
Future Possibilities
Hashing your genome and getting a unique NFT from it
Anonymous medical chat groups — access granted by having a NFT that says that the holder has a particular disease
Possibility of people using their genome as collateral
People depositing their ETH in Alchemix and getting a test kit in the mail
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