It’s one thing using your fingerprint to open your smartphone or laptop. Using a retinal eye scan to verify your passport might even be a step further. How does your Bitcoin wallet written into your DNA sound, perhaps a step too far? Ok so changing your genetic code to securely store your Bitcoin collection might sound like something from a dystopian future, maybe a spin off to The Incredible Hulk, but in theory, it is something that could provide a solution to those who are worried about their collection being hacked, or those who worry about their wallets being stolen. Well, there are visionaries that want to see this sort of technology developed, and it isn’t all entirely impossible, there are areas of DNA that can be used for code storage, it just takes a bit of a genius to work out how to do it. Carverr are a company that are passionate about ‘exploring the possibilities of nature’. They understand that everything natural has a limit to it, they want to find and test that limit in a pursuit towards changing how we interact with technology . They currently provide a service caked SeKhor, which is described as a ‘DNA Cold Storage Wallet’. According to Carverr, this solution uses standard encryption combined with DNA encoding to store your private key for eternity. They believe that flash memory and traditional tapes will become obsolete and that this is the future, all be it a slightly frightening one. How does SeKhor work? You encrypt your key, password or whatever personal information you wish to store, then you pass the encrypted version over to Carverr. The key is then converted from binary into a string of nucleotides. These are the proteins that your DNA is made of and include Thymine, Adenine, Cytosine and Guanine. From these proteins, a new string of DNA is created and stored in a test tube. That tube contains a strand of DNA which can be re-converted back into a binary encryption and then decrypted to give you the password, key or information that you wanted to store. This is far from the notion that one day your own DNA could contain your Bitcoin Key but you know, if there’s a company that can already turn an encrypted binary chain into a protein based DNA chain then I think half the battle has been won. I wouldn’t recommend introducing this new DNA strand into your body, who knows what could happen (refer back to my initial comment about the Incredible Hulk) but I do think if this technology develops and is rigorously tested to ensure it is safe, then there are some inherent advantages to it, you’ll never ever forget a password ever again! Disadvantages would include a potentially invasive procedure for inserting and extracting the DNA, and, in theory, I suppose there’s a risk you could pass the code on to other people if you don’t take appropriate precautions, if you catch my drift. Joking aside, what an exciting world we live in hey?