Recently, billionaire and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, stated that he is ready to invest in a U.S. startup focused on human embryo gene editing.
He is publicly recruiting gene editing scientists or computational biologists/machine learning engineers on social media X to form a founding team to conduct "embryo editing" research targeting unmet medical needs, such as genetic diseases. He also invites them to apply for a private dinner, where applicants need to fill out a form answering several questions, including "What amazing thing have you created?"
He attached an image of a Pew Research Center poll from 7 years ago in the post. The poll showed that Americans strongly support altering the genes of babies if diseases can be treated, although the same poll also found that most people oppose experiments on embryos.
Just a few weeks ago, several biotechnology industry organizations and academic groups jointly called for a 10-year ban on human heritable genome editing, pointing out that the technology not only has limited practical medical uses but also poses long-term risks with unknown consequences.
These institutions warn that the ability to 'program' ideal traits or eliminate undesirable genes could lead to the emergence of a new form of 'eugenics', the impact of which will 'fundamentally change the trajectory of human evolution'.
So far, no American company has publicly conducted embryonic editing research, and the federal government does not fund embryonic research at all. In the United States, embryonic gene editing research is only conducted by two academic centers: one is the center where Columbia University gene editing scientist Dieter Egli is located, and the other is a center at Oregon Health & Science University.
Funding for this type of research is relatively limited, primarily relying on private grants and university funds. Many researchers at these centers have expressed their support for the idea of funding-rich companies advancing this technology. "We sincerely welcome this kind of collaboration," said Paula Amato, a reproductive physician at Oregon Health and Science University and former president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
They believe that if a billionaire lobbies for it, the ban on gene-edited babies is likely to change.
In December 2024, Armstrong announced on X that he and investor Blake Byers are prepared to meet with entrepreneurs dedicated to "artificial wombs," "embryo editing," and "next-generation IVF." The two co-founded NewLimit, a company that extends human health span through epigenetic reprogramming, which has currently raised nearly $300 million. Byers has stated that a significant portion of global GDP should be allocated to "immortality" research, including biotechnological methods and methods for uploading human consciousness to computers.
Now, the "embryo editing" entrepreneurs' meeting is on the agenda, which will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area in the third quarter of 2025. Among the guests at the dinner is postdoctoral researcher Stepan Jerabek from the Egli Laboratory, who has been testing base editing technology in embryos; another guest, Lucas Harrington, is a gene editing scientist who studied under Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna.
Harrington stated that a venture capital group he is involved with, called SciFounders, is also considering starting an embryo editing company. In an email, he said: "We hope to have a company that can empirically assess the safety of embryo editing, and we are actively exploring incubating a company to undertake this work. We believe that there is a need for professional scientists and clinicians to safely evaluate this technology."
In addition, he criticized the bans and pauses on the technology. He stated that these bans and pauses do not prevent the application of gene editing technology, but may push it into the shadows, reducing its usage safety. According to him, some biohacker organizations have quietly raised a small amount of funds to advance this technology.
In contrast, Armstrong's public statement on the X platform demonstrates a more transparent attitude. "This time it seems serious; they really want to push the project forward," Egli said. The scholar hopes that the CEO of Coinbase can fund some of the research in his lab, "I think his public statement is very valuable - it can gauge public opinion, observe reactions from various parties, and also promote public discussion."
In 2015, news emerged from China that researchers had conducted CRISPR gene editing on human embryos in a laboratory, causing a global stir—people realized that altering human genetic traits could be theoretically so simple. In 2017, a research report from Oregon, USA claimed that they had successfully corrected pathogenic DNA mutations present in laboratory embryos developed from patient oocytes and sperm cells.
However, this groundbreaking advancement hides a secret. Scholars like Egli have found through more rigorous testing that CRISPR technology may actually cause severe damage to cells, often leading to large segment chromosome deletions. Aside from the phenomenon of chimerism (where different cells exhibit differentiated editing), this seemingly precise DNA editing technology can, in fact, result in subtle yet destructive consequences.
As the public engages in heated debates over the ethical issues surrounding "CRISPR babies," the scientific community is focusing on fundamental scientific challenges and their solutions. Subsequently, the industry has turned to base editing technology, which involves changing a single DNA base. This method results in fewer unintended effects and theoretically allows for multiple beneficial gene variations in embryos, rather than a single modification. In contrast, earlier methods actually involved cutting the double helix structure, causing damage and leading to the loss of entire genes.
Currently, gene editing technology is only approved for the treatment of adult diseases, such as gene therapy for sickle cell anemia, which can cost over 2 million dollars. In contrast, the cost of embryo editing could be very low: if editing is done early in embryo formation, all somatic cells will carry the modified gene.
However, gene editing technology has not yet reached a mature stage for creating "designer babies." To achieve this goal, many technical challenges still need to be overcome, including the precise design of editing systems and the establishment of systematic methods for detecting abnormal DNA changes in embryos. This is exactly the direction that the company Armstrong intends to invest in.
As of the time of publication, Armstrong has not responded to the email from foreign media "MIT Technology Review" seeking comments on his plans, nor has his company Coinbase replied.
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Crypto world billionaires plan to invest in "embryo editing", holding an industry private dinner in Q3, with a 10-year academic ban countered.
Author: Luo Hua, Antonio
Recently, billionaire and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, stated that he is ready to invest in a U.S. startup focused on human embryo gene editing.
He is publicly recruiting gene editing scientists or computational biologists/machine learning engineers on social media X to form a founding team to conduct "embryo editing" research targeting unmet medical needs, such as genetic diseases. He also invites them to apply for a private dinner, where applicants need to fill out a form answering several questions, including "What amazing thing have you created?"
He attached an image of a Pew Research Center poll from 7 years ago in the post. The poll showed that Americans strongly support altering the genes of babies if diseases can be treated, although the same poll also found that most people oppose experiments on embryos.
Just a few weeks ago, several biotechnology industry organizations and academic groups jointly called for a 10-year ban on human heritable genome editing, pointing out that the technology not only has limited practical medical uses but also poses long-term risks with unknown consequences.
These institutions warn that the ability to 'program' ideal traits or eliminate undesirable genes could lead to the emergence of a new form of 'eugenics', the impact of which will 'fundamentally change the trajectory of human evolution'.
So far, no American company has publicly conducted embryonic editing research, and the federal government does not fund embryonic research at all. In the United States, embryonic gene editing research is only conducted by two academic centers: one is the center where Columbia University gene editing scientist Dieter Egli is located, and the other is a center at Oregon Health & Science University.
Funding for this type of research is relatively limited, primarily relying on private grants and university funds. Many researchers at these centers have expressed their support for the idea of funding-rich companies advancing this technology. "We sincerely welcome this kind of collaboration," said Paula Amato, a reproductive physician at Oregon Health and Science University and former president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
They believe that if a billionaire lobbies for it, the ban on gene-edited babies is likely to change.
In December 2024, Armstrong announced on X that he and investor Blake Byers are prepared to meet with entrepreneurs dedicated to "artificial wombs," "embryo editing," and "next-generation IVF." The two co-founded NewLimit, a company that extends human health span through epigenetic reprogramming, which has currently raised nearly $300 million. Byers has stated that a significant portion of global GDP should be allocated to "immortality" research, including biotechnological methods and methods for uploading human consciousness to computers.
Now, the "embryo editing" entrepreneurs' meeting is on the agenda, which will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area in the third quarter of 2025. Among the guests at the dinner is postdoctoral researcher Stepan Jerabek from the Egli Laboratory, who has been testing base editing technology in embryos; another guest, Lucas Harrington, is a gene editing scientist who studied under Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna.
Harrington stated that a venture capital group he is involved with, called SciFounders, is also considering starting an embryo editing company. In an email, he said: "We hope to have a company that can empirically assess the safety of embryo editing, and we are actively exploring incubating a company to undertake this work. We believe that there is a need for professional scientists and clinicians to safely evaluate this technology."
In addition, he criticized the bans and pauses on the technology. He stated that these bans and pauses do not prevent the application of gene editing technology, but may push it into the shadows, reducing its usage safety. According to him, some biohacker organizations have quietly raised a small amount of funds to advance this technology.
In contrast, Armstrong's public statement on the X platform demonstrates a more transparent attitude. "This time it seems serious; they really want to push the project forward," Egli said. The scholar hopes that the CEO of Coinbase can fund some of the research in his lab, "I think his public statement is very valuable - it can gauge public opinion, observe reactions from various parties, and also promote public discussion."
In 2015, news emerged from China that researchers had conducted CRISPR gene editing on human embryos in a laboratory, causing a global stir—people realized that altering human genetic traits could be theoretically so simple. In 2017, a research report from Oregon, USA claimed that they had successfully corrected pathogenic DNA mutations present in laboratory embryos developed from patient oocytes and sperm cells.
However, this groundbreaking advancement hides a secret. Scholars like Egli have found through more rigorous testing that CRISPR technology may actually cause severe damage to cells, often leading to large segment chromosome deletions. Aside from the phenomenon of chimerism (where different cells exhibit differentiated editing), this seemingly precise DNA editing technology can, in fact, result in subtle yet destructive consequences.
As the public engages in heated debates over the ethical issues surrounding "CRISPR babies," the scientific community is focusing on fundamental scientific challenges and their solutions. Subsequently, the industry has turned to base editing technology, which involves changing a single DNA base. This method results in fewer unintended effects and theoretically allows for multiple beneficial gene variations in embryos, rather than a single modification. In contrast, earlier methods actually involved cutting the double helix structure, causing damage and leading to the loss of entire genes.
Currently, gene editing technology is only approved for the treatment of adult diseases, such as gene therapy for sickle cell anemia, which can cost over 2 million dollars. In contrast, the cost of embryo editing could be very low: if editing is done early in embryo formation, all somatic cells will carry the modified gene.
However, gene editing technology has not yet reached a mature stage for creating "designer babies." To achieve this goal, many technical challenges still need to be overcome, including the precise design of editing systems and the establishment of systematic methods for detecting abnormal DNA changes in embryos. This is exactly the direction that the company Armstrong intends to invest in.
As of the time of publication, Armstrong has not responded to the email from foreign media "MIT Technology Review" seeking comments on his plans, nor has his company Coinbase replied.