Umbilical cord blood cryopreservation also holds many similarities to cryonics. Like cryonics, cord blood banking is hedging on possibilities of future innovation: ‘‘[Parents] invest in the possibility that cord blood will achieve the plasticity of embryonic stem cell, with their apparently endless, pluripotent possibilities for multiplication and recapacitation’’ (Waldby 2006:65). Waldby examined private cord blood preservation (in contrast to donation to publicly shared banks) as a future-oriented, self-serving investment that may or may not yield returns for the family holding the account, likening it to forms of venture capital. Waldby argued that private cord blood banking is indicative of neoliberal shifts in society and medicine, in which individuals are responsible for their own well-being, risk-management, and the management of their own futures.

--"Extreme Life Extension: Investing in Cryonics for the Long, Long Term", Romain 2010