Brian Armstrong, the billionaire CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, says heโs ready to fund a US startup focused on gene-editing human embryos. If he goes forward, it would be the first major commercial investment in one of medicineโs most fraught ideas.
Armstrong announced he was looking for gene-editing scientists and bioinformatics specialists to form a founding team for an โembryo editingโ effort targeting an unmet medical need, such as a genetic disease.
Because of how rapidly gene editing is advancing, [Lucas] Harrington has … criticized bans and moratoria on the technology. These canโt stop it from being applied but, he says, can drive it into โthe shadows,โ where it might be used less safely.
Share this article
By contrast, Armstrongโs public declaration represents a more transparent approach. … [Dieter] Egli, who hopes the Coinbase CEO might fund some research at his lab [says,] โI think itโs very good he posted publicly, because you can feel the temperature, see what reaction you get, and you stimulate the public conversation.โ
