Bionics aren’t confined to Sci-fi movies anymore. As technology progresses, people may soon become part machines, thanks to various kinds of implants. While that day is still far away, a recent event in Ukraine gives a sneak peek into the future. A demonstration of the new ‘Dangerous Things’ xNT Implant at a conference was well received and covered by few media outlets as well.

Dangerous Things xNT Implant is a bio-implantable NFC chip that can be used to store any information, including credit card information, key card data, Bitcoin cryptographic keys and more. The chip was demonstrated by a German Professor Patrick Cramer during the Black Sea Summit 2016 held recently in Kiev. The Black Sea Summit is an annual conference on latest innovations and technologies.

The Dangerous things xNT Implant was one of the main attractions at the event. According to media reports, the implantation procedure was carried out for the first time in Ukraine. The $99 NFC tag enclosed in a cylindrical biocompatible glass comes preloaded in an injection syringe assembly. Many participants at the event have reportedly gotten themselves these implants.

This is not the first time someone has tried to create and implantable NFC device. Last year, a biohacker named Patric Lanhed implanted himself with a tiny NFC chip with Bitcoin wallet address stored in it. He is also said to have successfully made a transfer to his wallet by scanning the implanted chip against his skin to read the wallet key. Patric Lanhed and his collaborator Juanjo Tara had created a custom software to enable this transaction.

There are also examples of many Biohackers having NFC tags embedded in under their skin, programmed for various tasks. One of the publications mentions a woman who had her access card information embedded into an implant. With that implant, she can open doors at her office by waving her hand over the reader instead of using a regular NFC keycard.

NFC tags are speculated to offer an additional security for cryptographic keys. People can save their Bitcoin wallet’s private keys in their implants, ensuring its safely at all times. Researchers and Biohackers are working on ways to enable people to link their credit cards to the implants so that they can pay directly at shops by swiping their hand over NFC-enabled POS terminals.

The Dangerous Things xNT Implant is a product of a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The project leader Amal Graafstra along with his team mate Dana Burnidge raised $30619, which was around 283% more than their original target of $8000 to create the product. In the past two years, they have worked on the implants and a mobile app to manage them. We hope that those involved in the implantable technology projects come up with something amazing involving Bitcoin and implants soon.