MediBloc is a blockchain-based healthcare information ecosystem for patients, healthcare providers, and medical researchers. Offering an all-in-one solution, MediBloc is facilitating a decentralized healthcare ecosystem that benefits all parties involved. Founded by Allen Wookyun Kho and Eunsol Lee in 2017, the MediBloc team has introduced several patient-centered applications. This includes Medipass, offering users a streamlined service for healthcare insurance claims.
Additionally, MediBloc has launched a healthcare staff-centered application, Dr.Palette. MediBloc aims to be truly interoperable, using multiple token standards during the testnet, and the Panacea mainnet being launched using the Cosmos software development kit (SDK). The MediBloc token has since been converted to the native MediBloc coin following the development of MediBloc’s Panacea blockchain. The MED coin, or MED token as it is still often referred to, is crucial to a decentralized healthcare ecosystem, incentivizing honest behavior and participation. These can be stored through the desktop MediBloc wallet.
In this article, we are going to deep dive into MediBloc and the MediBloc healthcare ecosystem. We’ll look at the history of the MediBloc token and the MediBloc coin. Plus, we’ll talk about the differences and why the project initiated a MediBloc token swap. Also, we’ll discuss the MediBloc Wallet where funds can be stored. Further, we’ll explore MediBloc’s Panacea mainnet, the native Panacea blockchain, and the patient-centered applications created for decentralized healthcare.
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What is MediBloc?
MediBloc was designed with the goal of creating a patient-centric decentralized healthcare ecosystem. Also, MediBloc gives patients sovereignty and autonomy over their medical data, allowing it to be shared easily and safely. This is advantageous to patients, healthcare professionals, and healthcare data providers alike.
By providing an immutable record of patient data, patients can be assured that sensitive information is only shared with their knowledge and consent. Plus, by putting medical data on the blockchain, healthcare professionals and data analysts benefit from immutable, reliable medical records. Resultantly, MediBloc makes the supply and consumption of medical data more efficient and cost-effective than traditional methods.
MediBloc achieves a secure decentralized healthcare ecosystem with the use of its native MediBloc coin (MED), previously referred to as the MediBloc token (MEDX/MED). The project’s currency is primarily used to incentivize honest participation in the MediBloc ecosystem. We will explain the differences and how these can be securely stored further in the article.
Panacea
The MediBloc testnet was designed and created on the Quantum blockchain. Although Quantum offers novel flexibility with its use of a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and the UTXO model, the MediBloc team wanted to create its own blockchain parameters. Specifically, MediBloc wanted a blockchain to be optimized for handling medical data and creating a decentralized healthcare ecosystem.
In 2018, MediBloc left Quantum and migrated to the Cosmos ecosystem, thanks to the interoperable Cosmos software development kit (SDK). In July 2019, MediBloc’s mainnet, Panacea, was launched on Cosmos. Since then, however, the MediBloc team has been working on a mainnet upgrade that includes MediBloc hosting its own blockchain, also called Panacea.
Panacea uses a delegated Proof-of-Stake (dPoS) consensus and account model to facilitate an environment optimal for a decentralized healthcare ecosystem. However, until recently the Panacea blockchain nodes have been operated and run by MediBloc. The MediBloc team promises to burn all MED tokens received as rewards during the awaited mainnet upgrade. Also, MediBloc has been focused on recruiting validators for the network with the recent incentivized testnet.
MediBloc observed great success with the incentivized testnet. As such, the MediBloc team is taking a “more advanced direction” with the Panacea mainnet upgrade. MediBloc is beginning to upgrade the mainnet using the latest Cosmos SDK and Stargate version. Cosmos’ recent upgrade to its inter-blockchain communications protocol works conveniently with MediBloc’s goal of interoperability.
Therefore, the mainnet upgrade and the validator’s official launch schedule have been delayed. The most recent dates provided by the MediBloc team suggest both the Panacea mainnet upgrade alongside the validator’s launch will occur within August 2021. The mainnet validator participation will commence after the completion of the mainnet upgrade is completed without issues. This is to ensure a smooth upgrade for all participants in the MediBloc ecosystem.
MED Coin & MED Token
The words “token” and “coin” are often thrown around without the use of the correct definition of the terms. Indeed, they are incredibly similar and to a novice, there may be little difference. However, there are fundamental distinctions between coins and tokens. Technically speaking, coins are cryptocurrencies native to a blockchain, for example, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Smart Chain (BNB), Polkadot (DOT), Cosmos (ATOM), Cardano (ADA), etc.
On the other hand, tokens are cryptocurrencies that have been designed and deployed on an application on a blockchain. For example, Basic Attention Token (BAT) is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token, whereas PancakeSwap (CAKE) is a Binance-native BEP-20 token. This difference is significant for the transition from MediBloc’s MED and MEDX tokens, to the newer native mainnet MED coins.
During the testnet and initial development stages of MediBloc, the native token powering the MediBloc ecosystem was created on alternative blockchains. At first, MediBloc tokens became available as a MED QRC-20 standard (deployed on Quantum blockchain) and as MEDX ERC-20 based tokens. In early 2021, following the mainnet launch, the successful token swap was completed. The MED token (QRC-20) and MEDX (ERC-20) token were exchanged for the mainnet MediBloc coin (MED) at a ratio of 1:0.5.
The MediBloc mainnet launch means MediBloc can launch its own native MED coin on its blockchain, Panacea. Unlike before however, the new MED coin is no longer compatible with current Quantum or Ethereum-based wallets. Alternatively, the mainnet MediBloc coin is available to store through Medibloc Wallet.
MediBloc Wallet
To store your MED coins you will first need to set up a MediBloc Wallet account. The online wallet is currently only available for desktop and offers an incredibly quick and easy set-up process. First, you’ll need to create your MediBloc Wallet address through https://wallet.gopanacea.org. Click on “Create Wallet ID” to get started!
Following this, you’ll be given a unique 24-word mnemonic phrase. These words allow access to your wallet and should not be shared. If you lose them, there is no backup! After, you’ll need to choose a wallet nickname and password to access and log in to the MediBloc Wallet. The MED coin (or MED token) mainnet wallet address is available on the top right-hand side of the screen.
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Medipass
Medipass is an application created by the MediBloc team to ameliorate the labor-intensive process of communicating medical data and insurance claims. In Korea, the process of completing a health or medical insurance claim is quite outdated. As such, the sequence of events includes making the digital health data reported in hospitals analog, by creating hard copies (paper) of medical reports. These are then faxed or physically sent to the insurance companies who proceed to digitalize the medical reports again for their internal IT systems.
Thanks to blockchain technology, this process can be streamlined. The immutability of the technology means health data cannot be adjusted or compromised. Moreover, the privacy and security surrounding blockchain means that patients can have full control over who can access their medical data. Furthermore, having a cryptographically secure medical report accessible to insurance companies will speed up the insurance claim process substantially. Medipass is assisting the adoption of decentralized healthcare by providing a secure platform for various parties to communicate and cooperate with insurance claims. In turn, this helps all parties involved.
Medipass was designed with three main benefits in mind. The first is to reduce the time, cost, and energy of making a real loss insurance claim for patients. The second is to minimize the time needed for administrative work, including the issuance of medical data at a hospital and patient waiting time for a claim. Thirdly, Medipass is designed to streamline the digital to analog to digital conversion process for insurance claims. Medipass increases the efficiency and automation of a previously timely process within the healthcare ecosystem.
Dr.Palette
The MediBloc team also offers an innovative next-generation electronic health record (EHR) solution, Dr.Palette. As described on the website, the Dr.Palette application is similar to that of an artist using a palette with a variety of colors to create a masterpiece. However, Dr.Palette is used by doctors who are free to pick and choose which functions to add to the application according to the needs of their hospital. Dr.Palette is designed to be an all-in-one solution for the healthcare ecosystem. Dr.Palette offers hosting and managing services for electronic health records from reception and patient information management, to insurance claims and prescriptions.
Co-representatives of the MediBloc team, Woo-Kyun Ko and Eun-Sol Lee, created Dr.Palette considering both medical staff and patient use cases. Operating and managing a hospital includes communication and interaction with many different third-party services, alternative healthcare treatments, services, and staff. Dr.Palette is a specially designed electronic health record (EHR) blockchain-based solution.
The transparency, immutability, and security synonymous with blockchain make this technology ideal for designing a customizable decentralized medical data environment. Communication between patients, doctors, and other medical services can be achieved with increased efficiency and transparency. Moreover, patient confidentiality and privacy are underpinned by cryptography and computer science. There has never been a more secure way to store and communicate patient data. Moreover, for the first time, patients have full autonomy over their personal health data.
Exploring MediBloc Healthcare Ecosystem & the MED Token Summary
MediBloc is creating a blockchain-based, patient-centered decentralized healthcare information ecosystem, increasing security, transparency, and efficiency of the communication of medical data. The project has developed a testnet and mainnet using multiple blockchains (Quantum and Cosmos) before creating its own purpose-built blockchain, Panacea, pushing interoperability within the industry. In turn, holders of the previous MEDX or MED token converted their assets to the native MED coin launched on Panacea. Also, MED coin holders can store their funds using the project’s own desktop MediBloc Wallet.
Additionally, with Medipass and Dr.Palette, it’s clear that MediBloc’s decentralized healthcare ecosystem is a strong contender for the mass adoption of blockchain in the healthcare industry. However, at present, MediBloc and Medipass are only available in South Korea. Further, the MediBloc team communicates updates through the MediBloc website or Medium page frequently. One of the recent headlines includes how MediBloc is facilitating Korea’s first digital Covid-19 vaccination pass using Medipass.
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