BIOHACK-6: Own Your Biomarker Data with Intra

Context:

Our mission has originally been defined as ‘Deepen the understanding of our bodies, using data.’ or, more aspirationally, ‘We use data to make superhumans.’

This echoes our belief that one of the biggest bottlenecks in the creation of new products and protocols furthering human enhancement is the lack of high quality large data sets. The UK Biobank is a go-to database right now, but it lacks accessibility for many due to a stringent application process and costs involved. Moreover, its data is not continuous and granular enough.

We believe that, in the age of continuous data from wearables, we can do better. Thanks to hundreds of millions individuals (and growing at around 17.6% per year) owning self-tracking devices such as Oura or the Apple Watch, high quality and high granularity biomarker data already exists out there, however, it is not being leveraged enough. Imagine the value we could unlock if we created a large data set aggregated across different wearables, smart devices and apps, from thousands and eventually millions of users who are already collecting this data. The main blocker to achieve this, we believe, is incentives.

The solution:

Intra is a biomarker data collection platform and marketplace. It enables people to connect their existing wearable devices, earn points, and unlock insights. Users will eventually also be able to compare progress, join research, or fuel AI innovation with their data. We’re starting with support for Oura and will eventually integrate an array of other devices and likely Apple Health/Google Fit directly.

We have already partnered with Vana - which offers a crypto-native solution for data DAOs - incentivizing users with tokens to share their existing data from various platforms, whilst maintaining security, a high degree of self-custody, and providing a verification system for the data. Using Vana will also give us Vana staking rewards - which are currently high, as their ecosystem has just launched.

We’ve also partnered with WalletChat Labs to develop the code and build the product. Disclaimer: One of the founders of WalletChat (Mgoes) is also a Steward at BiohackerDAO. We believe this is a positive in helping provide quality control and ensuring alignment. In the future, WalletChat might subcontract other external developers to take part in or lead some of the development work.

An MVP (minimum viable product) or v1 beta has already been built - we are calling it Intra. Disclaimer: the product is at an early stage and will be developed in an iterative fashion, meaning its design and architecture might significantly evolve overtime, based on adoption and user feedback, just like any startup product. The WalletChat dev team will be in charge of this process.

Intra’s development thus far has been fully financed by WalletChat, at no cost to BiohackerDAO. An agreement has been proposed whereby WalletChat will continue owning and developing the code and BiohackerDAO will provide token issuance, user acquisition, and marketing services. The product will be branded as Intra by BiohackerDAO, as currently on the website.

Intra biomarker marketplace may be eventually powered by its own token on the Vana blockchain, in which case BiohackerDAO will receive an allocation. Unless otherwise agreed, any tokens or rewards received from Vana or other partners in relation to Intra, and any revenues Intra generates by token sales or otherwise, will be reinvested back into the development of Intra.

Intra will become one of BiohackerDAO’s flagship products. If successful, we believe this model of co-developing products with external partners can be replicated and scaled - resulting in a whole ecosystem of products and services under the BiohackerDAO umbrella, as per our roadmap here. Starting with Intra has already been discussed and greenlighted by governance in our Telegram community, prior to publishing this roadmap.

Having Intra powered by a separate token would ensure that early adopters get rewarded without diluting current BIOHACK holders, reduce operational risk for the DAO, and ensure Intra is compatible with the Vana infrastructure. It would also provide BiohackerDAO treasury with additional project tokens, which is one of the first steps towards treasury diversification and in line with building The Biohackers Fund.

Next steps:

1. Ratify BiohackerDAO’s partnership with WalletChat and Vana towards the development of Intra, as per the above terms.

2. Continue and scale up BiohackerDAO’s marketing efforts for Intra, as needed.

3. Explore a pathway for Intra to move towards commercialization via an independent token mechanism, or similar.

Voting:

Vote YES if you approve this proposal.

Vote NO if you disapprove.