VANCOUVER: Blockchain Holdings Ltd, a public company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, announced that effective March 13, 2020, it entered into a binding letter of intent to acquire 100% of the rights and interests in a self-quarantine monitoring technology suite known collectively as “IMSafe” from WiSilica, Inc.

Under the terms of the Transaction, Blockchain will pay total consideration of US$1.574 million comprised of two cash payments of US$100,000 and US$150,000, respectively, and US$1.324 million payable in 6.0 million shares of Blockchain at a deemed price of CAD$0.305 per share in exchange for all of the business assets related to the TRACEsafe Self-Quarantine Monitoring System.

TRACEsafe is a global health monitoring product that may be deployed by governments and corporations as they fight the global COVID-19 pandemic.

TRACEsafe is an innovative suite of patent-protected health and safety products, including a flagship identification bracelet and software solution used in a variety of applications, including to administer quarantine guidelines set out by governments. In addition to quarantine applications, TRACEsafe products are being used in hospitals for infant monitoring in maternity wards and visitor monitoring to elder care facilities.

Already, TRACEsafe disposable bracelets are being deployed and in active use by the Hong Kong government manage and enforce their quarantine program for foreign visitors with initial deliveries completed. Based on the success of the program in Hong Kong, and confirmed orders in excess of 65,000 units, TRACEsafe expects to roll out in multiple countries in the coming weeks and months. TRACEsafe expects to make its next deliver of bracelets within the next 60 days, and estimates its working capital requirements for such deliveries to be approximately $300,000.

COVID-19 is widely expected to change how people shop, travel, and work for the foreseeable future, and TRACEsafe could play an important part in implementing new safety and health policies.

Dennis Kwan, the CTO of WiSilica, is expected to be appointed as CEO of a new subsidiary of Blockchain that will hold the TRACESafe assets.

Blockchain also announced a non-brokered private placement offering of up to 3.33 million units at a price of C$0.30 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to C$1.0 million.

Blockchain intends to use the proceeds of the Financing towards partial payment of the purchase price of the Transaction and working capital and general corporate purposes.

TRACEsafe, is a proprietary self-quarantine management monitoring system which registers a user through a wrist tag. The tag can log time stamps and locations of the user through a single application used by both the user and administrators to a central monitoring system.

TRACEsafe allows a user to declare once they have entered quarantine, and subsequently prompts periodic check-in acknowledgements. The application will alert administrators if the user fails to acknowledge a check-in, the tag is unreachable through the user’s phone or if the tag has been tampered with.

TRACEsafe was developed by WiSilica, Inc., a California-based private company in the business of creating intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to enable human centric lighting, real time tracking, intelligent wireless controls, and customized IoT Solutions. It helps customers manage space, energy, and gain access to insightful reports and dashboards.

“We are delighted to play a role in expanding TRACEsafe, which we believe will play a critical role in assisting governments with the mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The acquisition of the TRACEsafe business assets further advances Blockchain Holdings’ technology and data aggregation business. Following the 2019 acquisition of a strategic minority equity stake in Airbeam Wireless Technologies, a 5G semiconductor manufacturer and small cell network innovator, the transaction with WiSilica further highlights Blockchain’s role as a value-added investor in disruptive technology startups,” stated Wayne Lloyd, CEO of Blockchain.

“TRACEsafe family of products represent the culmination of years of innovation in low-power wireless technology from WiSilica, and have been proven in many demanding applications in the health and safety market. We are humbled by the recognition by BCX through their acquisition of this part of WiSilica’s business, and we look forward to much greater possibilities with the support of BCX to launch TRACEsafe into the next stage of growth,” explained Dennis Kwan. “I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this cutting-edge opportunity,” he continued.