Patientory’s Initial Coin Offering Nets $7.2 Million
Blockchain startup’s tokens sell out in three days
In what may be a first for a digital health company, Blockchain-based electronic medical record startup Patientory raised $7.2 million in three days through an initial coin offering (ICO). During the ICO, 70 million PTOY tokens, the company’s cryptocurrency, were bought by 1,728 purchasers around the world.
“A token sale is how blockchain startups fund their projects,” said Chrissa McFarlane, CEO of Patientory. “We’re the first to bring the blockchain to healthcare and do an initial coin offering, which is the non-legal term for a token sale.”
According to McFarlane, the PTOY tokens bought during the ICO have two uses for their purchasers. Because cryptocurrency can appreciate over time, the tokens represent an asset that purchasers can sell to others. But they also grant purchasers access to Patientory’s blockchain, enabling them to secure health information, execute smart contracts, and rent servers.
“We really saw this token sale as another way to gain early supporters,” McFarlane explained. “You need a token to access our blockchain. That’s what our supporters bought.”
During the token sale, which opened on May 31st and closed on June 3rd, PTOY tokens were purchased largely by individuals and organizations in the U.S., Russia, and parts of Asia. A significant portion of the purchasers were also located in the U.K., where the high-profile wannacry ransomware attacks recently crippled parts of Britain’s National Health Service.
“People in the U.K. definitely saw the need for blockchain health infrastructure,” McFarlane said. “This was a way for them to improve security. But not only that. They’re also able to introduce us to customers. We believe that most of our purchasers will bring value to the company.”
To ensure that Patientory returns that value to its token holders, McFarlane has posted a roadmap on the company’s website. The roadmap includes a series of milestones, which the company will accomplish using the money raised by the token sale.
“We were able to give our purchasers a roadmap of what we were going to do with the funds we raised,” McFarlane said. “As we meet those milestones, we’re able to receive more funds held by the company for execution and product development.”
Holders of PTOY will be able to trade their tokens on the Bittrex, TokenMarket, HitBTC, ICObazaar, and Liqui exchanges. As Patientory grows, expanding its product offerings and acquiring new customers, its cryptocurrency may appreciate, generating more value for token holders.
“With each milestone we achieve, we update our community,” said McFarlane. “We’re holding ourselves accountable and ensuring our purchasers that we’re using those funds for the company.”
In case you missed it
