Dr Schumacher said the platform would let individuals own and control their own data, enabling them to either sell or donate their information to research institutes and pharmaceutical companies across the world.

The company expects to start sequencing people's genomes in the third quarter of the 2018 calendar year and will be a rival to the Garvan Institute's spinout Genome.One, which charges about $6400 for its service.

Shivom claims to already be able to offer full genome sequencing for only $900, and believes the cost of this will come down to $100 within the next few years. Like Genome.One it will also provide genetic counselling for all of its customers, in addition to sequencing.

Proving its business

Unlike many ICOs which have come under criticism for being empty money-making schemes from sham companies, Shivom has already scored deals with technology partners and governments internationally.

Last week it announced a partnership with ASX-listed molecular diagnostics company Genetic Technologies. The business specialises in a clinically validated risk assessment test for non-hereditary breast cancer, but collecting data to develop the tests to date had taken seven years.

Through the partnership, it is hoped customers of Shivom will opt to share their data with the Genetic Technologies via the secure blockchain.

Shivom's chief innovation officer Henry Ines said he was aware of the bad reputation of ICOs, and that it would not be the only way it raised capital. However, because of its use of blockchain, he said it was a good fit.


ICO doubts

"We've been discussing this almost everywhere along the journey. All of these [ICOs] are early stage projects and there's a lot of potential for abuse," he said.

"We are tackling a real problem that is pervasive ... we're working with a lot of stakeholders from publicly traded labs to investors, to institutions to governments, so there's a lot of visibility on what we're doing. We have that transparency."

Shivom has also partnered with decentralised data exchange Ocean Protocol, to enable its data sharing services on the blockchain. It means third parties are able to give an organisation access to their genomic data, but that third party cannot hold or share the data.

Individuals have the choice to either learn everything about their genome and what they're predisposed to, including terminal illnesses, or be selective.

Dr Schumacher said he believed the unlocking and sharing of genomic data would lead to drugs being made available tailored to an individual's genomes, and that there would be more cures and treatments discovered for rare diseases.