Interview with the IRYO Network team
By: Crypto Unveil
Tags: ICO, Token Sale, Blockchain, Ico Interviews, Healthcare

1) What problem are you solving, why do you need the blockchain technology and what are the main pillars that define your company and differentiate you from your competitors?

Wow, a lot to unpack here. OK, I think the first thing to say about Iryo is that we are healing the global e-healthcare industry that has been plagued by inefficient and incompatible technology solutions which in turn takes a toll on the development costs and eventually people’s lives. Iryo creates globally interoperable medical data with openEHR archetypes, allowing patients to take medical histories with them.

We are defined by openEHR archetypes to ensure globally interoperable health data with our unified medical records enabling the efficient exchange of patient data between subjects of trust. We also care deeply about your privacy and are securing the data with zero knowledge decentralized storage with the user being in control of its data at all times.

There are no passwords involved at any point, and doctors will not be able to view data if the request is denied. This presents a revolutionary change in the way that sensitive data is handled and assures total control and ownership by the patient.

Additionally, this type of 3rd party access request is view-only, the new doctor does not have permission to write any new data into the medical file or modify the existing data contained within the file, preventing any sort of tampering.

2) What value are you adding to your industry value chain and which are the main obstacles to the success of your solution?

We are not just another company that is using the blockchain as a buzzword while developing the products that contribute to current e-health industry problems. Our solution is offering decentralised approach with the patient actually being in charge of all the medical records it possesses.

Blockchain technology is being used as an access control mechanism, where the patient is using Iryo’s platform enables patients to leverage their medical data by allowing them to store their encrypted medical histories within the Iryo mobile app. The encryption presents a barrier for doctors that practice outside of the Iryo Network, however, with patient enabled permissions, doctors will be able to view and re-encrypt regardless of their network.

Proxy re-encryption powered by NuCypher, would enable doctors to generate a set of temporary, private & public keys through the Iryo portal. This would allow a view request that would be sent to the patient via an instantly generated QR code which the patient would then review and either approve or deny the request directly on his device. After approval by the patient, the doctor would be able to view the relevant sections of the patient’s medical record. After the session runs out (enforced by the issued blockchain access permissions), the re-encryption key gets wiped out, and storage nodes stop serving encrypted data to that specific source.

At the same time, we are adding value by offering Iryo network platform which is solving the problem of interoperability while offering an improved user experience.

3) Why did you decide to launch an ICO and why do you need a public Token Sale?

We have dedicated 80% of all tokens to go to the supporters. This means only 20% is reserved, with 5% of those 20% going to airdrops, another 5% going to private sale and 10% going to the team and advisors.

Public token sale is necessary to bootstrap the network and the community of the supporters to pull the massive change into reality. We want the development to be community supported which will guarantee open access and interoperability in the long run.

4) How does your token function within the platform and why is it needed? How did you decide the total supply and distribution among stakeholders?

There are three functions of the token, depending on the role the user is playing. The basic principle is that the user data is not uploaded to a third-party server, but is stored on a patient’s device. This enables the user to be in control of the data and can decide who can have access to it.

First usage of token is the payment for anonymized patient data which is requested by the researcher. The data is processed on the user device and the patients are rewarded for the data the researchers request. Second usage of the token is by the patient which he or she can use to pay for medical treatment in Iryo clinics. And third usage is a stake required by the health clinics which can then serve the patient data when the doctor is seeing them. The stake acts as a API key for institution software to access and become the storage node in the decentralised network.

The revolutionary approach secures the data on a patient’s device and the tokens are used to pay for the data and allow access to it. The total supply was decided upon careful market analysis and the plans for the development of Iryo network along with the process of onboarding.

As far as the distribution goes, we wanted Iryo to be a true community-based project which is why 85% of all the tokens are allocated to the community (airdrop, presale and crowdsale). Only 10% is reserved for the team and business development and 5% for the private sale.

5) Where do you see the value of your token in the medium to long term and the ultimate benefit for the token holders?

The value depends on the role the user is playing and is described in the previous answer. The greatest benefit of the Iryo token is the creation of e-health medical ecosystem where all of the aforementioned communities (patients, researchers, doctors) can benefit from it. This greatly increases the token usability and with it the value of it since it can be used for everything from paying for medical examinations to paying for anonymized medical data.

6) Thinking about the future, what are your plans after ending the ICO? Are you afraid that the volatility of the cryptocurrency market might affect the economy of your project in any way?

The first version of the Network will be deployed in refugee camps throughout the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon in the beginning of May. The platform will be piloted by the Walk With Me organisation (run by the non-profit organization Tying Vines, Inc.), an NGO that has close to 6,000,000 displaced refugees that will be able to test the platform.

The deployment will feature a front-facing application for healthcare providers (doctors, nurses and administrators), a secure and distributed storage protocol and a patient app for Android that will enable efficient patient identification. The platform will cover different types of workflows and support healthcare data specifically for primary healthcare services. After gathering feedback and testing within the environment, Iryo will extend the network to Jordan in June, and then to four more countries by fall of 2018 (Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Djibouti).

You can see the whole roadmap here.

Speaking of market volatility, we believe our supporter understands the enormous burden we are trying to overcome with Iryo, which means that this is a long term investment. At the same time, we are seeing similar concepts being developed by Apple, Google and other internet giants which in the past have faced criticism about the handling of user data, sharing it without the users knowledge or permission.

With an ever growing rate of privacy related incidents which have roots in treating personal data as a toxic asset, we foresee an expanding demand for privacy-based digital solutions. That means Iryo will provide a service in high demand, already proven on different international markets.