The novel Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has spread fear among many around the world. It became so worrying that the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its global spread and impact alert to “very high.”
But some people managed to use the moment to their advantage.
A team of seven cryptocurrency developers that are mostly based in Europe, have created a digital coin that allows traders to bet on the coronavirus epidemic.
Called the “CoronaCoin,” total supply for the digital coin is based on the world population (7,604,953,650 tokens), and the tokens will be burnt once every 48 hours, based on the rate of new cases, according to its website.
Because for every one infection one token is burned, this suggests that the more people fall ill or die by the deadly disease, the higher the price would be.
In other words, buyers can reap grim benefits, or get rich, the more the disease spreads.
“Some people speculate a large portion of the supply will be burned due to the spread of the virus, so they invest,” explained Sunny Kemp, a user who identified himself as one of the developers, in a chat on messaging app Telegram.
Cryptocurrencies like the famous Bitcoin are digital currencies that rely on cryptography to validate their transactions. The digital coins have their transactions recorded through a digital ledger called blockchain.
And the CoronaCoin blockchain that relies on the Ethereum blockchain documents the spread of the virus, and the token can already be bought and sold on some online exchanges, according to Kemp.
Quickly, Kemp and his CoronaCoin received harsh critics from people on the internet and social media networks. Some say that it is "amoral", with another user said that it is "tasteless", and things like CoronaCoin is the reason "why we can’t have nice things."
When asked whether the token could be seen as an inhuman approach to the coronavirus epidemic, Kemp said that: “There are currently active pandemic bonds issued by the WHO. How is that different?”
Kemp also said the coin’s creators have tried marketing it as a “2019-nCoV relief effort,” claiming that around 20% of the supply will be allocated for monthly donations to the Red Cross using a well-known cryptocurrency payments processor.
What started in Wuhan, China, has spread to 43 nations and territories, and has infected at least 81,278 people and killed 2,770. This resulted in contagious fear that made many businesses closed, countries closing their borders, market crashes and large-scale quarantine for those infected.
This has had a severe impact on both the global economy and everyday life for millions of people.
the world have been struggling to deal with the rise of the virus, but some "skilled, intelligent Individuals have the opportunity to utilize neglected technologies and take power into their own hands."