On rare occasions, I write about lesser known people doing something extremely interesting or unique in the hair loss world. In many cases, this has involved writing about blog readers testing or outlining their own theories and concoctions to treat hair loss. In other cases, I wanted to support hard working sincere people involved in the hair loss world for many years with no financial driving force.

HairDAO: Autonomous Blockchain Technology to Cure Hair Loss

This time, I want to discuss a new blockchain based Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) called HairDAO. It was initiated by two hair loss sufferers. Ultimately, this venture might turn out to be meaningless (or worse, turn into a scam as more money becomes involved). But so far, I am impressed with what I have read and feel like it holds potential.

Also, as far as I know, blockchain based concepts are very transparent. They are extremely unlikely to turn into any kind of pyramid or ponzi scheme type fraud. Nevertheless, proceed with caution! For now, this is just something unique of interest to myself.

Biotechnology and health related DAOs are becoming increasingly common (e.g., VitaDAO for longevity and anti-aging research). See this list of other science related DAOs. I like VitaDAO’s slogan: “We’re democratising longevity.”

VitaDAO’s Discord is fully active and you can join them to get a better idea of the future of HairDAO’s Discord. Also, the #VITA token is already being traded on the public blockchain. Another interesting one is LabDAO, which is in pre-launch mode, just like HairDAO.

Key Highlights of HairDAO

• HairDAO will be fully owned and operated on the Ethereum public blockchain.
• The two co-founders of this initiative are Andrew Bakst and Andrew Verbinnen. Both suffer from hair loss and treat it using medication.
• Their Whitepaper that just came out earlier this month is well worth a complete read. It covers many aspects of the current issues in the hair loss world when it comes to lack of funding for the most relevant treatments and research.
• The only token held by the Treasury at launch will be the $HAIR ERC-20 token. Most likely, it will be released before the end of 2022.
• There will be 1 billion $HAIR tokens minted at launch. These will be controlled by a temporary Gnosis Safe Multi-Signature Wallet.
• Follow them on Twitter if you find this concept interesting. Or on Discord if you are really a fan. FYI — HLC2020 also has its own Discord hair loss chat.

Per HairDAO’s Whitepaper, besides outright purchase, the $HAIR token can also be earned through: the provision of capital and operational work; the generation of intellectual property; the operation of manufacturing facilities; clinical trial participation; and regulatory advisement.

Note: I am not sure how this will all work. My intuition tells me that these kinds of co-operative community based projects are part of the long-term attraction of blockchain technology.

How will a DAO Help Hair Loss Research?

Upon first glance, it seems confusing as to how HairDAO can speed up hair loss research. Especially since most people assume that sales of tokens such as $HAIR are just to make money in a similar vein to stock trading or cryptocurrency coin trading.

However, the aim of a DAO is to collectively fund (or invest) in researchers and institutions via community discussion and voting. HairDAO will do this via its Discord channel where it has channels for proposals (and working groups in future). Perhaps they can rapidly raise funds for Dr. Tsuji and Riken as their first priority?

The chart below from their White Paper gives a general idea of how this will work.

Our primary goal is to solve hair loss. My personal opinion is that we need to deploy capital in a profitable way so that people can make money from holding our tokens and also solve a cause they care about. Otherwise we are just a charity for hair loss and I think profit-driven people are more likely to find solutions to problems. But ultimately the community will decide what is best — Andrew V.

I agree with the above quote. Moreover, people who believe very strongly in charity and volunteer work are less likely to be involved in a cosmetic/ beauty/appearance related field such as hair loss.

Disclaimer

Note that I am not being paid in any way whatsoever to write about HairDAO. I am not even likely to purchase the #HAIR token when it comes out unless I see some real upside in other related biotech area tokens. Nevertheless, it is great to finally see blockchain technology and the hair loss world finally intersecting.

Perhaps HairDAO can also be used for the popular “Group Buys” and new hair loss compound experimentation down the road?

Sooner or later, blockchain technology will become massive and much more than just cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. I remember how I got interested in Twitter in its earliest days and kept thinking that it held much greater potential. It took a decade before it really took off.