Could Blockchain Tech Be a Boon for Psychedelics?
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In the first few months of 2018, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies was struggling to raise the finances it needed to conclude phase 3 of its clinical trials, which would allow the FDA to approve its MDMA-assisted therapy. Surprisingly, the funds were availed to the nonprofit organization through cryptocurrency.
An anonymous individual, using the name Pine, created a philanthropic project that has made donations to 60 charities in the form of Bitcoin, known as the Pineapple Fund. The anonymous donor donated $5 million dollars’ worth of Bitcoin to MAPS, which enabled the organization to continue with its invaluable research on MDMA.
In the 2018 “MAPS Bulletin,” Pine revealed that he suffered from bipolar disorder and had come across ketamine therapy while searching for a way to manage the pain in his life. Pine asserted that one experience with the psychedelic made his life more manageable. He later found out about the research MAPS had conducted along with its work and decided to donate some of his cryptocurrency to support that work.
Pine’s contribution to psychedelic research is one of the examples of how cryptocurrency and psychedelic communities intersect.
The CryptoPsychedelic Summit, which took place in February 2018 in Tulum, Mexico, was held to discuss this overlap. Leaders in the fields of cryptocurrencies and psychedelics met to present their ideas on the symbiosis of these movements. The participants at the conference assessed how cryptocurrencies allowed people to question how financial systems — and money — work in general, while psychedelics encouraged individuals to expand their definition of how healing takes place.
While Bitcoin has no central organization and is an open-source cryptocurrency system, various companies have emerged to offer services to users of Bitcoin in above-ground economies. The original Bitcoin code was developed in 2008 by an individual known as Satoshi Nakamoto, with various black markets such as Silk Road being the crypto’s first major users.
Similar to how cryptocurrencies work, the psychedelic culture and movement is also decentralized. While blockchain does away with economic borders between countries, psychedelics dissolve boundaries.
At the moment, there are 180 fiat currencies in existence, which largely operate in national regions. Blockchain could possibly help establish more globally interconnected and resilient economic systems, which would support better economic communication between countries and markets.
Cryptocurrencies may also help dissolve ethnocentric ego-identification between governments and nations, which may result in a unifying effect, similar to psychedelics. Some advocates and researchers believe that just like the natural psychedelic experience, Blockchain may change the very nature of social organization, given that it’s decentralized, virtual and borderless.
As the psychedelics industry continues to gather more attention, it is becoming clearer that this sector is likely to pivot towards medicinal applications of psychedelic compounds as evidenced by all the R&D work being done by companies such as Pure Extracts Technologies Corp. (CSE: PULL) (OTC: PRXTF), which see immense potential for psychedelics in the treatment of mental health conditions.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Pure Extracts Technologies Corp. (CSE: PULL) (OTC: PRXTF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/PULL
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