Thousands of US pharmacies can now settle prescription drug funds in cryptocurrency by means of a brand new blockchain-based system working on Ripple’s XRP Ledger.
The system was developed by Wellgistics Health, a prescription drug distributor and digital prescription routing supplier for greater than 6,500 pharmacies, in partnership with pharmaceutical software program agency RxERP.
According to the businesses, the system allows pharmacies to pay for merchandise and transfer funds, whereas recording all funds on the XRP Ledger and providing an alternative choice to conventional financial institution transfers for wholesale drug purchases.
“Independent pharmacy homeowners are much more forward-thinking than many understand,” Wellgistics’ CEO Brian Norton mentioned. “They see the ability of blockchain and perceive how transformative this shall be because it scales throughout the business.”
Wellgistics says the system meets healthcare and monetary guidelines, together with HIPAA privateness necessities and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) legal guidelines.
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Healthcare on the blockchain
Blockchain and crypto aren’t essentially sizzling matters in healthcare, however the sector has been steadily transferring towards real-world adoption since 2023. As Cointelegraph reported, the expertise might ship main efficiencies worldwide, reaching properly past sooner, cheaper funds enabled by crypto and stablecoins.
Grand View Research valued the worldwide blockchain in healthcare market at $7.04 billion in 2023, projecting it to succeed in $214.86 billion by 2030.
One space the place healthcare meets Web3 is decentralized science (DeSci). In a September 2024 interview with Cointelegraph, Alex Dobrin of VitaDAO — a collective centered on extending human lifespans — mentioned DeSci can reduce prices and speed up drug improvement by means of extra environment friendly capital use.
Asher Looi, co-founder of blockchain and AI diagnostics agency BitDoctor.ai, famous that decentralized fashions might streamline scientific trials.
This potential can also be mirrored in associated markets. The decentralized scientific trials section, for instance, is forecast to develop from $8.3 billion in 2023 to about $33 billion by 2033, based on a Market.us report.
Despite the adoption, blockchain in healthcare nonetheless faces main roadblocks. Germany’s government-backed blockchain healthcare pilots have stalled in 2024, primarily as a result of strict information privateness guidelines below Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Related: Bitcoin, Ether, XRP value bump pushes market sentiment to ‘Greed’
Healthcare treasury firms on the rise
Several healthcare entities have added digital property to their company treasuries in current months, exhibiting the healthcare business’s rising curiosity in cryptocurrency.
In June, Cointelegraph reported that Prenetics Global Limited, a well being sciences firm listed on Nasdaq, grew to become the primary healthcare agency to launch a big Bitcoin treasury technique. The firm acquired 187 BTC (value $20 million) by means of Kraken, and appointed former OKEx chief working officer Andy Cheung to its board to supervise the initiative.
Singapore-based Basel Medical Group additionally introduced plans to ascertain a Bitcoin reserve by buying $1 billion in BTC in May. The healthcare firm mentioned the transfer aimed to bolster its growth capabilities, although the announcement triggered a 15% drop in its share value.
Legal Panel: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘unhealthy actor’ with no crypto authorized precedent set
