One of the oldest tricks around is to rename or rebrand a failing business or investment as a new one. Investors get the same cruddy product and terrible business plan with a new name.
The latest example of such rebranding is Hippocrat (HPO), the cryptocurrency formerly known as Humanscape (HUM). Even the name is terrible, I think Hippocrat sounds like hypocrite.
A Token Named for a Fraudster
Meriam-Webster states: “the meaning of HYPOCRITE is a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion.” Hence, a hypocrite is a fraudster. They’re name the product for a fraudster.
Hence, Hippocrat’s developers are not smart enough to Google a word to learn its meaning. Yet they are dumb enough to name the product Hippocrat. I imagine they are naming Hippocrat for Hippocrates, the Ancient Greek Father of Medicine.
Hippocrates inspired the Hippocratic Oath, physicians had to take. That’s impressive, but imagine most people will not know who Hippocrates was. However, many more people will understand what a hypocrite is.
What value does Hippocrat (HPO) offer?
Frighteningly, the internet fell for Hippocrat’s rebranding ploy. For example, Hippocrat (HPO) was CoinMarketCap’s 10th most trending cryptocurrency on 30 July 2023.
Tellingly, Mr. Market is not falling for Hippocrat’s scheme. For example, CoinMarketCap gave Hippocrat an 8.042₵ Coin Price, a $75 Market Capitalization, a $90.329 million Fully Diluted Market Cap, and a $3.714 million 24- Hour Market Volume on 31 July 2023. They base those numbers on a 913.409 million HPO Circulating Supply and a Total Supply of 1.085 billion HPO. Notably, Hippocrat was CoinMarketCap’s 289th largest cryptocurrency on 31 July 2023.
The new name is not helping Hippocrat. For example, it had a $62.49 million Market Cap and a 7.836₵ Coin Price on 3 July 2023. The price is not moving despite the trending name.
What is Hippocrat (HPO)?
They call Hippocrat (HPO) a cooperation protocol for “self-sovereign healthcare data.” This means they want to give ordinary people control of medical data.
Conversely, the Hippocrat team wants to build a platform that collects and utilizes medical data. Hence, Hippocrat is trying to build a Big Data platform for healthcare.
Moreover, they want to sell that data worldwide. For example, the website describes Hippocrat as an “incentivized and open protocol.” Hence, I consider Hippocrat a decentralized global market for medical data. Users will pay for healthcare data with the HPO token. Patients could sell medical data for HPO.
Therefore, Hippocrat has two conflicting goals. They want to give ordinary more people control over their healthcare data. Conversely, Hippocrat’s team wants to make money by selling healthcare data. Instead of saying they sell data, the White Paper uses the vague sentence: “Sustainable incentive model considering not only patients but also participants in the governance.”
Is Hippocrat (HPO) Illegal?
I predict this plan will fail because you lose control of data when you sell it. Many people will consider selling healthcare data unethical. Moreover, I suspect Hippocrat’s business model could be illegal in the United States.
To explain the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) imposes strict standards on the use and dissemination of medical data in the United States. For example, HIPAA’s privacy rule requires healthcare providers to keep most medical data secret.
Yet Hippocrat’s White Paper states they want to provide “Decentralized governance and open collaboration structures” and “Sustainable incentive model considering not only patients but also participants in the governance.”
Thus, they want an open system with little privacy. I suspect a decentralized system could violate HIPPA. To explain, open collaboration structures give everybody access to data, including criminals. I suspect any effort to put US medical data on Hippocrat will attract the attention of regulators.
What Hippocrat Does
The Hippocrat team has tried to build data solutions for real world patients. For example, they claim Rarennote shares data on 30,000 patients with rare diseases.
Similarly, Momatik offers data on pregnant women. Meanwhile, Raredata is a clinical research platform. However, all three websites appear to be in Korean. Hence, Hippocrat could be legal in South Korea but illegal in the United States. Thus, Hippocrat’s “global platform” only serves one country.
Since the United States is the world’s largest economy, this is a problem. Moreover, European Union (EU) standards are stricter than US regulations. Hence, I think Hippocrat is also illegal in the European Union.
I cannot see how a product that is illegal in two major markets can make money.
Why Hippocrat will Fail
I think Hippocrat (HPO) will fail because healthcare is a government run business in most country.
For example, 65.748 million Americans enrolled in Medicare in March 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).* Medicare is the federal health insurance program for senior citizens and the disabled.
Moreover, 83.715 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid, the federal/state health insurance scheme for the poor in March 2023, Medicaid reports. Another 7.162 million Americansenrolled in CHIP, a health insurance program for low-income children.
Thus, Uncle Sam is America’s largest health insurance provider. Hence, America has socialized medicine but not a single-payer health insurance scheme. My prediction is that the United States will move to full single-payer at some point.
However, conversion to single-payer will require brutal battles, most US politicians do not want to fight. For example, health insurance and pharmaceutical companies want to keep generating enormous profits from healthcare.
There is no Market for Hippocrat (HPO)
Conversely, most countries have single-payer health insurance schemes. In a singe-payer scheme, the government provides all citizens with health insurance financed by taxes. For example, all Canadian citizens participate in Medicare, a federal single-payer scheme. Meanwhile, Britons rely on the National Health Service.
However, the operation of single-schemes varies greatly. In Britain, His Majesty’s Government operates most clinics and hospitals. Conversely, in Canada, most health care providers are private, but Medicare pays most medical bills.
Hence, healthcare is a government monopoly in most countries. Therefore, governments are Hippocrat’s natural customers. Hence, Hippocrat’s best business will be to sell to the government.
However, I suspect governments will want a closed and centralized protocol they can control. Thus, Hippocrat’s business plan will drive the customers away. Consequently, I recommend investors avoid Hippocrat (HPO) because I cannot see how it will make money.
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