Microsoft has patented a system that uses human biometrics such as body heat and brain-wave activity to mine cryptocurrency. The patent, filed under international patent number WO-2020-060606 and titled ‘Cryptocurrency System Using Body Data Activity’, leverages human body activity as proof-of-work.
This proof-of-work is achieved when a user performs given tasks, or even online activities such as viewing ads and using search engines.
“Instead of massive computation work required by some conventional cryptocurrency systems, data generated based on the body activity of the user can be a proof-of-work, and therefore, a user can solve the computationally difficult problem unconsciously,” the patent reads.
Despite the patent being published on March 26 by the World Intellectual Property Organization, some titans of the cryptocurrency industry are already on board, and cryptocurrency exchangeBitMEX, founded by Britain’s youngest self-made billionaire Ben Delo, has donated $2.5 million dollars to the Gates Foundation.
As to how body activity and biometrics will be communicated to servers and cryptocurrency hardware, the patent explains that “a sensor communicatively coupled to or comprised in the device of the user may sense body activity of the user.” The patent then gives examples of sensors that can be used to this end – such as “fMRI scanners, electroencephalography (EEG) sensors, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) sensors, heart rate monitors, thermal sensors, optical sensors, Radio Frequency sensors, ultrasonic sensors, cameras, or any other sensor or scanner.”
This list of examples is just typical patent stockpiling, or Microsoft’s way of ensuring they own every applicable aspect of this system. The real technology, would be a sensor specifically made for detecting and keeping track of human biometrics, such as implantables being developed by several tech companies in Europe. After all, a microchip implant is the best sensor for biometrics, as it is literally inside the body.
https://biohackinfo.com/news-microsoft-patent-wo2020060606-human-biometrics-crypto-mining/