Get to it - January 2023
January allowed me to really hone in on my goals and focus on what major tasks I want to tackle this year.
We are back! January was a busy, but exciting month. Participating in another hackathon and building an arithmetic circuit with zero-knowledge proofs are among some of my favorite achievements from the month. Let’s dive into it!
But first, check out my December 2022 recap. 2022 was an interesting year, to say the least…
Using the Blockchain to save 1 Million lives
One of the highlights from this month was the hackathon I participated in. This was my second-ever hackathon and I loved the experience. Here is the problem my team of four set out to solve:
One Million deaths per year… are caused by counterfeit drugs. And 1/4th of these deaths are in children. Why?
Counterfeit drugs.
In Pakistan, around 40% of all drugs in circulation are counterfeit. One of the causes for this problem is that for every 1 licenced pharmacy, there are 2.5 “street vendors.” These street vendors could be unlicenced convenience stores, pharmacies, or just individuals making and selling fake medications for a profit.
To understand the root of this global problem, we need to dissect the supply chain of pharmaceutical drugs to understand where these counterfeit drugs are entering.
In the case of many developing countries, similar to Pakistan, it is much easier for any non-verified drugs to enter circulation through any of the three stages above than it is for a more developed country like Canada. However, the vast majority of drugs enter during the last stage of the fulfillment process: directly to the end consumer via “street vendors.” So how can we use verification to address this?
The current method of drug verification in Canada uses a Drug Identification number like on the bottle above to recognize which drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to be sold in pharmacies. However, this number is completely meaningless to the end consumer. Did you even know that number was there? But this number could provide some value if it did have some meaning for the end consumer.
Introducing… Capsuledger
Our solution to counterfeit drugs uses the blockchain to do the following steps:
The drug approval entity (Drug Regulatory Agency in Pakistan or the FDA in the US/Canada) verifies a drug by creating a block for each drug and uploading it to the *permissioned consortium blockchain.
The hash value of the block as well as a QR code linked to that hash are then printed on the bottle in place of the Drug Identification number.
The user scans the QR code with their camera and information about the drug (including whether or not it has been verified) is available on the Capsuledger website
*This permissioned consortium blockchain allows for only the verifying entities for specific countries (DRA for Pakistan or FDA for US/Canada) to have access to upload drugs to the blockchain — no individuals can write on the chain, but anyone can read what has been uploaded. That aspect constitutes the permissioned aspect. The consortium aspect allows each verifying entity to have a stake in the decision-making process for changes on the chain, so there isn’t one entity controlling the whole process. This combination of permissioned and consortium blockchains ensures a secure way to spread the information necessary.
With this interface, users don’t need to download any more apps and can check any information about a verified drug they’ve purchased such as the manufacturer location, date of expiry, dosage, etc. For counterfeit drugs, they can report them to hopefully close the loop in the supply chain they have entered.
But less than 24% of the Pakistani population has a smartphone, so how does this solution affect them?
Our application is also active as an SMS program where simply texting the hash to a local phone number will return the information needed on any mobile phone.
Capsuledger’s purpose is to add a layer of certainty in the drug market, specifically in developing countries where the majority of drugs are not purchased from licenced pharmacies. If consumers can easily check whether or not the drugs they have purchased are real drugs, and have the ability to report fake ones, the risk of losing one’s life due to counterfeit drugs should be minimized to the extent that hundreds of thousands of lives are saved!
This was an amazing project to work on and an incredible learning experience. Addressing problems with a global impact is not something you get to do everyday which is what made this hackathon so memorable.
Using Circom 2.0 to build zero-knowledge proof circuits
If you kept up with my December newsletter, you would have read about some of the interest I’ve taken in Zero-knowledge Proofs. This month, I took a stab at using a language called Circom which was developed for creating these proofs.
If you have no clue what I’m talking about, check out this article I wrote explaining what ZK-proofs are.
With Circom, I built a trivial arithmetic circuit for a very simple mathematical proof. The circuit essentially generates a proof that the user knows the factors to a specific number, without actually revealing those factors to the verifier (computer). The article below goes into depth as to how the circuit works and gives some steps to get started yourself.
Check out the technical deep dive here:
And the demo video here:
What’s been in my ears this month?
All-in Podcast Episode 111
I’ve heard great things about this podcast for a while, yet never really LOVED an episode before this one. I originally clicked on this podcast to hear the besties’ insights into Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI but ended up learning so much more about politics, tech, and economics.
My main takeaway was the insider scoop about the strategy for Google to retain market share in the “search market” against growing competition from OpenAI.
What does February hold?
Another Consulting gig…
If you caught my December newsletter you would have read a bit about my experience consulting in the banking industry. That was an amazing experience that taught me so much in just three weeks.
In February, I get to start another project with another Billion TRILLION dollar company.
In this challenge, I get to apply the knowledge and skills I learned from the last challenge to address another exciting problem. The only way to hear about this experience would be to subscribe below to catch February’s updates.
That’s all for January! Subscribe below to catch February’s updates.