From Mar-a-Lago to Coinbase, Dubious Claims Follow Doc.com Token Sales

A health startup tied to a public cryptocurrency is using overstated language about some of its industry relationships and its affiliation with crypto exchange Coinbase as it seeks to sell tokens to investors, a CoinDesk investigation has found.

At Mar-a-Lago, Charles Nader, CEO of Doc.com, pitched token investment opportunities to hedge fund representatives and family offices gathered to hear from notable entrepreneurs like Brock Pierce, showing a pitch deck that included at least two claims that have been substantially debunked by further CoinDesk inquiries.

Lilly told CoinDesk he doesn't have any relationship with Doc.com, while Hoffman's venture capital firm Greylock Partners told CoinDesk Hoffman has no formal advisory relationship with Doc.com, though Nader was a student of a Stanford course taught by him.

The way the platform functions has raised questions about its token rewards and the security of its users' health data.

In a private message to CoinDesk, Nader clarified there haven't been any formal discussions about listing the token on Coinbase and that Doc.com is just a custody customer of the exchange.

Such as Gladstein, believe Doc.com has come to encapsulate many of the ethical complexities involved with token sales, suggesting that the dynamics behind the 2017 crypto market boom haven't faded along with the market itself.

Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation told CoinDesk he is deeply troubled by the structure of of Doc.com's token economy.

The company's pitch deck presented at Mar-A-Largo promised investors the likelihood Doc.com tokens would increase in value "Is much higher" than bitcoin because the tokens "Are used to view healthcare data and linked to real users in the platform that need it."

Nader also told CoinDesk the value of this token would rise as "Demand for the data goes up." However, the Mexico City-based team isn't concerned that U.S. regulators could see MTC as an unregistered security even though the company claims to have roughly 20,000 app downloads in Florida.

Diaz said there are currently around 9,000 MTC addresses and that app users are directly provided with both public and private keys to control their own token rewards.