This Crypto Firm Turns its Hand to Mask Manufacture to Fight Virus

A South Korean crypto outfit has come up with an entrepreneurial response to the coronavirus pandemic – by setting up a face mask factory and offering customers discounts if they buy using the company’s native token.

Per media outlet ZDNet Korea, Pandagram, which operates a crypto pay platform, has set up a mask production plant in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province (near Seoul). The company is currently making two products: an air pollution-resistant mask and a surgical mask, and says it will be ready to sell these items via its own Android mobile app in April.

An image released by the company shows the mask packaging, including the claim that the mask can block particles of up to 0.4 of a micrometer.

The masks are not yet certified, but Pandagram states that it has already applied to the governing Korea Apparel Testing & Research Institute, a body that issues certification for masks and protective clothing. The company is hopeful of obtaining the KF94 rating for its products. KF94 is the equivalent of the United States’ N95 face mask standard and China’s KN95 certification.

The company states that discounts will be offered to customers who choose to pay with its Pandabit token, and claims it has already donated 50,000 masks to a charity called Good People, which supports medical workers and at-risk groups affected by the outbreak.