The blockchain community is playing a significant role in helping to develop pharmaceutical drugs to combat COVID-19, as blockchain can bring immense computational power to confirm transactions, and generate new coins, according to Brandon Mintz, CEO of crypto ATM network, Bitcoin Depot.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Mintz highlighted that the biggest benefit blockchain brings to the table is “the security aspect of things,” adding that such an adoption is also helpful for contactless payments and online purchases with crypto as online sales continue to skyrocket.
Crypto community efforts to support COVID-19 researches
Bitcoin Depot’s CEO commented about the use of computational power to strengthen the COVID-19-related research projects by allocating the resources through blockchain-backed platforms:
“Since COVID-19 hit worldwide, we’ve had to process more information online than ever before, and incorporating the added security that blockchain offers has been an enormous help in my eyes. I think developments like this are great. If there are resources available and it can potentially improve the project greatly – I think more institutions should look into expanding their own projects like this.”
Mintz clarified that despite the fact there will always be “some fragmentation” among the crypto community about finding ways to help in researching for a cure, “the large majority of the community has really banded together to create new innovative ways to help fight the virus.”
Lessons to be learned in a post-pandemic era
Mintz noted that when the pandemic ends, the blockchain community can see what other use cases the technology has, not only for virus-related research. He said:
“I think one of the biggest takeaways for most is that blockchain technology can be as flexible as you need it to be. Especially in cases like the current pandemic, we’ve seen blockchain be used for handling patient data and contact tracing all the way to helping businesses with verifying donations. The community has found ways to apply it to non-typical uses and I hope that trend continues in the future.”
Bitcoin Depot’s CEO says he’s thrilled to witness how governments are adopting blockchain to how they’ve been handling the pandemic adding:
“I genuinely believe it can always be pushed further. We’re seeing new ways to combat the virus with tech every day and I think adopting those new technologies and ideas could be wildly beneficial for a lot of struggling governments.”