"CoronaCoin" exists. Some cryptocurrency developers on 4Chan cooked up a digital coin that allows traders to bet on the global coronavirus outbreak, based on how many people become infected and/or die.
[PHOTO: Chief nurse Ma Jing holds a patient's hand to comfort her in the ICU (intensive care unit) of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Jan. 24, 2020. By Thursday midnight, Hubei Province in central China reported 549 cumulative confirmed cases of the new coronavirus pneumonia, with 495 in Wuhan, the provincial capital. Xinhua/Xiong Qi/PRC]
Here's the Reddit post that kicked it off.
"We developed the world's first blockchain that tracks the spread of the virus based on it's [sic] token supply. The token supply started at 7.6 billion and is burned every two days to keep up with official WHO statistics," said Sunny Kemp, an admin for CoronaCoin's Telegram group.
"CoronaCoin" supply diminishes every 2 days based on the rate of new COVID-19 cases, says its website. The price goes higher the more people die, writes Anna Irrera at Reuters:
Total supply for the CoronaCoin is based on the world population, and tokens will be burnt once every 48 hours based on the number of those that have been infected or have died, according to its website.
"Some people speculate a large portion of the supply will be burned due to the spread of the virus, so they invest," Sunny Kemp, a user who identified himself as one of the developers, said in a chat on messaging app Telegram.
Kemp said the team comprised seven developers with more coming on board. He declined to identify others, but said they were located mostly in Europe.
More at Reuters:
CoronaCoin: crypto developers seize on coronavirus for new, morbid token
