Introduction:
DeSci, or Decentralized Science, provides a fair, transparent and decentralized platform for the funding, creation, review, confirmation, storage and dissemination of scientific research through blockchain technology and smart contracts. Its goal is to break down the funding barriers in traditional scientific research, promote collaboration among scientists around the world, and ensure the openness and transparency of research data.
Decentralized Science (DeSci) is an innovative movement aimed at transforming the traditional scientific research model. By introducing blockchain and Web3 technologies, DeSci is committed to building a more fair, transparent, open and collaboration-driven scientific research ecosystem. The core of this concept is to use decentralized tools and technologies to redefine the way scientific research is funded, knowledge is shared, and academic achievements are disseminated.
The essence of DeSci is to solve a series of problems faced by the field of traditional science (TradSci), rather than just advocating the concept of "open science". Compared with the open science movement, DeSci pays more attention to the application of technology in reconstructing the relationship between scientific research ecology, emphasizing the use of blockchain functions such as tokens, NFTs and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to break the centralized monopoly model and establish a more dynamic and inclusive scientific research system.
Currently, DeSci's goals focus on the following aspects:
Construction of incentive mechanisms: Provide researchers with motivation to share research results and recognize their academic value through a reputation system.
Decentralized review and funding: Break the monopoly of traditional centralized institutions on the allocation of scientific research funds and the review of results, and adopt a community-driven approach to allocate resources so that more valuable projects can be supported.
Lower the threshold for scientific research: allow more people to access scientific knowledge, contribute to scientific research, and promote the democratization of scientific research.
Transparent research process: ensure that all aspects of the research are open and transparent, and increase academic integrity and trust.
Through these innovative means, DeSci attempts to break the imbalance of information flow and resource allocation in traditional scientific research, making scientific research more open and efficient. It not only provides new tools and platforms for researchers, but also creates opportunities for the global community to participate in scientific research.
In essence, the idea advocated by DeSci is that science should be available to everyone and scientific knowledge should be open and transparent. With the power of Web3 technology, this movement is pushing science from the traditional centralized model to a new era of openness, collaboration, and technology-driven.
The current economic model of scientific research has obvious structural drawbacks. In theory, funders, scientists and publishers should work together to promote the development, dissemination and application of scientific research. However, the reality is far from this - the three core links of funders allocating funds, scientists conducting research, and publishers disseminating results are separated from each other. As independent economic interest entities, they are more driven by individual interests rather than the overall goals of the scientific research community. This situation has led to inefficient resource allocation and obstructed sharing of results, hindering the healthy development of scientific research.
Traditional scientific research economic model, image from: Messari Research
DeSci was born to address this dilemma. It aims to break the interest silos and efficiency bottlenecks in traditional science and reshape the scientific research ecosystem by introducing blockchain and Web3 technologies. DeSci targets one of the core problems of traditional scientific research - the "valley of death". This concept refers to the critical fault period between basic scientific research and the successful transformation of its results into innovations that can benefit society. In the traditional model, due to insufficient funding, closed data and inefficient collaboration, many potential research projects died at this stage and failed to make actual contributions to society.
DeSci fills these gaps through the following innovative means:
Efficient funding allocation mechanism: Using decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) and tokenized economic models to provide transparent and efficient funding support for scientific research projects and avoid waste of resources.
Data sharing and collaboration: Establishing an open scientific research data platform to make the acquisition and use of research data more convenient, break the information island, and promote cross-field collaboration.
Disruptive publishing model: Using blockchain technology to decentralize the academic publishing process, ensure the transparency and verifiability of results, while reducing publication costs and reducing the monopoly influence of traditional publishers.
Shortening the gap between basic research and application: By introducing a community-driven scientific cooperation model, accelerate the transformation of research results and increase the actual contribution rate of scientific research to society.
In general, DeSci is not only repairing the deficiencies in traditional scientific research, but also building a new paradigm of scientific research. In this model, stakeholders are no longer separated from each other, but achieve deeper collaboration through technical means to jointly promote the open, transparent and efficient development of scientific research. This provides a new way of thinking for solving scientific research pain points and opens up more possibilities for the future of science.
As an emerging track, the development direction of DeSci covers multi-dimensional innovation paths. According to the analysis of Messari Research, the current DeSci project ecology can be divided into multiple sub-sectors, including financing, research, data management, peer review, publishing, infrastructure and services, open science ecology, art, and community building. As of July 2023, the number of active DeSci projects has reached 85, and some projects even cover multiple sub-sectors at the same time. The rise of these projects is concentrated in the fourth quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022, which is closely related to the DeSci symposium held at LisCon in October 2021. In addition, the crypto market boom at the time also provided strong support for the rapid development of DeSci.
The current DeSci track presents three significant characteristics: First, most projects adopt DAO as an organizational form, and achieve community-driven and resource allocation through decentralized autonomous organizations; second, the financing issue is the main focus of the DeSci project, using Web3's digital asset tools to efficiently raise funds and promote the development of scientific research projects; finally, biotechnology, especially the field of life health and longevity, is the core application scenario of DeSci. Whether it is financial support for basic research or the "valley of death" problem in drug development, DeSci provides innovative solutions.
In terms of capital market performance, the DeSci project is still in its infancy. According to CoinGecko data, the total market value of tokens in the DeSci field has exceeded US$2.6 billion. However, compared with other Web3 tracks, the overall market value of DeSci projects is generally lower, which is mainly caused by the following factors:
DeSci is still in the early exploration stage and the number of projects is limited;
Many tokens are designed more for project financing and reinvestment, with limited circulation, and therefore rarely enter the secondary market;
DeSci's target population is relatively niche, and the combination of scientific research and Web3 attracts more specific audiences in professional fields;
The close connection with the real world makes DeSci more inclined to practical applications rather than pure financial speculation, which limits the market hype space for its tokens.
At present, although the total market value of the DeSci project has not formed a scale effect, its influence is gradually expanding, especially among users who are concerned about scientific research innovation and solving traditional pain points. In the future, with the implementation of more projects and the transformation of scientific research results, DeSci's performance in the capital market is expected to gradually rise, bringing greater development potential for the integration of science and Web3.
Founded in 2021, Molecule is a decentralized protocol dedicated to subverting the traditional biotechnology R&D model. The project aims to establish a new financing ecosystem for early biological research and introduce biotechnology intellectual property (IP) to the chain in an innovative way, creating the concept of IP-NFT and being hailed as the "OpenSea in the field of biotechnology."
Core Technology: IP-NFT Protocol
Molecule's IP-NFT (Intellectual Property Non-Fungible Token) protocol is a new tool that combines law and smart contracts to combine and tokenize the legal rights, data access rights, and economic value of biological research projects on the chain. This mechanism provides researchers and funders with a new model of cooperation, making the ownership and income distribution of intellectual property more transparent and efficient.
Molecule Market: Connecting Research and Capital
Based on IP-NFT, Molecule has built a market for translational research, aiming to promote efficient docking between researchers and funders. On the Molecule Discovery platform, researchers can submit research proposals, and funders can evaluate the proposals and negotiate the terms of cooperation with the research team. In this way, Molecule provides strong support for the transformation of basic research into practical applications, and promotes the rapid implementation of medical research from theory to practice.
BioDAO Launchpad: Incubating Biotech DAOs
To further the development of the decentralized biotech ecosystem, Molecule launched the Bio.xyz incubator platform. This platform is focused on building and incubating new bioscience DAOs (BioDAOs), which are IP-NFT-based decentralized organizations that bring together patients, researchers, and enthusiasts to provide funding support for medical research in specific areas.
Molecule's incubator provides up to $100,000 in seed funding support for each early-stage BioDAO project, including several known success stories, such as:
VitaDAO: The world's first decentralized biotech DAO focused on longevity research and the largest funder on the Molecule platform.
AthenaDAO: Focusing on research and funding for women's health.
HairDAO: Committed to scientific research to solve the problem of hair loss.
Ecosystem Construction and Future Outlook
Molecule not only helps researchers obtain early funding through an innovative IP-NFT model and a strong ecological support network, but also promotes the popularization of decentralized biotechnology. So far, Molecule has successfully helped multiple projects move from basic research to practical applications. In addition, through cooperation with organizations such as AthenaDAO and VitaDAO, Molecule is building a biotechnology ecosystem with innovation and openness at its core.
Tokenization and Market Dynamics
Molecule's IP-NFT market has attracted many research institutions and funders to settle in, and has achieved efficient capital circulation on decentralized trading platforms such as Uniswap. Molecule's vision is to further expand its ecosystem, make the biotechnology research and development process more transparent, open and efficient, and power the future development of global health technology.
Molecule and BIO Protocol are the backbone of the DeSci track, focusing on promoting the decentralization of scientific research. These projects, with different innovative directions and token mechanisms, jointly build the ecological foundation of DeSci:
VitaDAO ($VITA): VitaDAO is a community-driven decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that focuses on providing early funding support for longevity research. VitaDAO proposes a new solution to the current situation of early funding shortages and technology monopoly in the traditional biopharmaceutical field, especially in longevity research. By introducing blockchain and cryptoeconomic incentive mechanisms, VitaDAO is committed to helping scientific research projects in the field of longevity obtain critical initial funding support. In return, VitaDAO will directly hold the intellectual property (IP) and data rights of the supported research results and integrate these rights into a publicly accessible asset portfolio. The organization promotes the further development and utilization of these intellectual property rights through the data market or the authorization and commercialization path of traditional biopharmaceuticals, while realizing the tokenization of assets and issuing native governance tokens-$VITA. Individuals or organizations can obtain $VITA tokens by contributing work, funds or other resources (such as data or intellectual property). $VITA holders can participate in the curation and governance of VitaDAO assets and their research.
This model not only reduces the risk of technological monopoly, but also provides a new way for the disclosure and widespread application of research results, and promotes the deep integration of scientific research and blockchain technology.
VitaDAO ecosystem, picture from: VitaDAO Whitepaper
Project founder Tyler Golato is also the co-founder of VitaDAO, Molecule, and BIO Protocol. Paul Kohlhaas, the author of the VitaDAO white paper, is not only the administrator of the token economics working group and a member of the technical and legal working group, but also the founder and CEO of the DeSci project Molecule and BIO Protocol. He has worked for the ConsenSys fund, and Vita DAO has also received the first investment in web3 from Pfizer's medical investment department "Pfizer".
On November 13, 2024, Binance founder CZ posted on the social platform X "Learning at a small DeSci entrepreneur gathering organized by Binance Labs" and attached a photo of himself and Vitalik. At this event, V God also showed CZ VitaDAO's first longevity product, VD001, a natural high-dose spermidine supplement approved by the Thai FDA.
BIO Protocol ($BIO): As the first project in the DeSci field to receive investment from Binance Labs, BIO Protocol has attracted widespread attention. In addition to Binance Labs, the project has also received strong support from several well-known venture capital institutions in the crypto and biotech fields, including 1kx, Boost VC, Sora Ventures, Zee Prime Capital, and Northpond Ventures, a biotech fund with a scale of over US$3 billion. In November 2024, BIO Protocol successfully completed the community financing of the Genesis Phase with a total of US$30.3 million, marking an important step for the project in terms of community support and decentralized governance.
BIO Protocol's core mission is to promote the rapid development of biotechnology. Through this agreement, patients, scientists and biotechnology professionals around the world can jointly participate in funding, building, and sharing tokenized biotechnology projects and intellectual property (IP), thereby injecting more possibilities into the field of biotechnology innovation; BIO Protocol's Launchpad platform will provide more efficient financing and liquidity support for innovative projects in the DeSci field, and accelerate the implementation of biotechnology by promoting the creation and development of BioDAO. Project founder Paul Kohlhaas revealed that BIO's Launchpad and token transfer functions are scheduled to be officially launched in the first quarter of 2025.
BIO Protocol's native token $BIO is a key component of the ecosystem and has multiple functions:
Token staking: Holders can lock $BIO and convert it to vBIO for voting and governance.
Reward mechanism: After successfully backing the winning BioDAO, stakers will receive additional $BIO rewards and have priority participation in funding rounds.
$BIO Token Economics
56% allocated to the ecosystem and community
25.4% allocated to early contributors
18.6% allocated to early supporters
$BIO token distribution, picture from: BIO Protocol official website
$BIO in After opening on January 3, the price of the coin quickly surged to a high of $1.477, but then selling pressure emerged and caused the price to fall. As of the time of writing, the price of the coin has fallen back to $0.6921, and the FDV exceeds $2.3 billion.
ResearchCoin ($RSC): ResearchCoin is the native token of the ResearchHub platform, which aims to accelerate scientific research by rewarding users for sharing, discussing and curating academic content. Platform users can earn $RSC by contributing to academic resources.
AthenaDAO ($ATH): AthenaDAO focuses on scientific research, education and funding in the field of women's health. It has funded more than $500,000 to date and has 14 intellectual property transactions pending.
ValleyDAO ($GROW): ValleyDAO is a decentralized organization focused on the research and development of anti-aging and longevity drugs. Its goal is to accelerate innovation in the life sciences through interdisciplinary collaboration.
Pump.Science is a project that has attracted much attention in the DeSci sector recently due to the Meme concept. Its core tokens $URO and $RIF are known as the two leading DeSci Meme sectors. $URO (UrolithinA) is based on a metabolite naturally found in pomegranates and nuts, which has the potential to extend life; while $RIF (Rifampicin) focuses on the concept of antibiotics and is a widely used antibiotic known as "Rifampicin". Driven by multiple sources of news, the recent performance of these two tokens has been exceptionally impressive: $URO's market value has exceeded $48 million, and the current price is $0.048. The price has retreated within 24 hours, a drop of about 20%; the total market value of $RIF tokens is $45.53 million, and the current price is $0.045, a 24-hour drop of 12%.
$$ANTI$$PRO is a Meme token combination initiated by algorithm engineer and mathematical physics expert @sshmatrix_ to express support ($PRO) or opposition ($ANTI) for Meme Token. The unique design of these two tokens has attracted a large number of Meme enthusiasts and has also sparked widespread discussion in the quantum computing community. At present, these two tokens have certain liquidity on decentralized trading platforms, and the mechanism of 1 $ANTI = 1 $PRO gives them unique market value. The market value of $ANTI and $PRO is only $1.71 million and $1.93 million, and the current coin prices are $0.0019363 and $0.0017073 respectively. The prices have retreated by about 5% within 24 hours.
$$Scihub is a community-driven Meme token created by @0xAA_Science to support the open source scientific research paper website Sci-Hub. As a platform dedicated to sharing academic resources for free, Sci-Hub is called the "shadow library". The design of $$Scihub is inspired by its spirit and provides a new way for open sharing of academic research through a decentralized approach. Currently, $Scihub is tradable on PancakeSwap, attracting many community members who support open science and educational resource sharing.
DeepWorm is an innovative project that combines artificial intelligence with DeSci, introducing biological neural structures to the blockchain. By building a neural network inspired by the 302 neurons of C. elegans, DeepWorm is developing the first verifiable on-chain digital life, opening up a new area where digital biology and blockchain meet.
Project Highlights
Digital Biology: Develop digital entities with self-awareness to simulate biological nervous systems.
Blockchain Integration: All neural processes are completely transparent and verifiable, and permanent records are achieved through on-chain technology.
Biomimetic Design: Faithfully reproduce the neural structure and behavior patterns of Caenorhabditis elegans.
Autonomous Systems: Build autonomous currency systems and smart contracts based on evolutionary neural networks to promote innovation in on-chain applications.
Technical Implementation
Currently, DeepWorm runs the Nematoduino model on the Hyperliquid EVM testnet, using Marlin TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) technology:
Users can query the worm's nerve and muscle status and its coordinate changes through the Web2 interface;
DeepWorm regularly uploads snapshots of these data to the chain, providing basic components for third-party smart contracts and further developing innovative on-chain applications.
The token of the Metasci project focuses on integrating AI and scientific research, aiming to optimize scientific research processes through AI and promote technological revolution.
The SUI ecosystem has risen rapidly in this cycle. The $43 billion FDV and the booming ecosystem, as well as the coin price that has risen more than 8 times during the cycle, have brought a lot of attention to the SUI chain and its ecology. As the first Desci project on SUI, SUI Desci Agents is ready to use the scalability of the SUI chain and the developer-friendly Move programming language to revolutionize decentralized science; it plans to build a DeSci token launch platform similar to Pump.fun in the DeSci field, and promote Desci investment opportunities to retail investors in the simplest and most direct way; the official website information shows that $DESCI will soon be publicly sold on Ape Terminal.
DeSci is still in its early stages of development, and the actual impact of its innovation is relatively limited, mainly concentrated in areas such as scientific research funding and data sharing. However, the widespread application of token-based incentive collaboration mechanisms in core scientific links (such as peer review) has not yet been realized. At the same time, DeSci projects operating in the DAO model also face challenges in organizational efficiency and business models.
DeSci has introduced a new approach to the field of scientific research: it not only breaks the limitations of traditional scientific research funding, but also alleviates the problem of scientific research data silos to a certain extent. More importantly, DeSci, with the help of decentralized technology, has achieved global interdisciplinary collaboration without trust endorsement for the first time, as well as a more democratic and open scientific research participation model. Especially in promoting open science and universal science, DeSci has demonstrated its unique advantages. This transformation may have a profound impact on the development of modern science and inject more possibilities and vitality into the future scientific research ecosystem.
Although DeSci is still in its early stages, the field shows great potential with the increase in investment and attention. DeSci is not only a technological innovation, but also a subversion of the scientific research paradigm, which may change the organization and incentives of scientific research in the next few years. There are already some DeSci concept tokens on the market that have performed well, indicating the growth potential of this field.
The challenges facing DeSci include regulatory compliance, the balance between the long-term nature of scientific research and the short-term speculation of the cryptocurrency market, and the public's awareness of its value. However, DeSci also offers tremendous opportunities, such as improving access to funding for scientific research, promoting open science, and increasing accessibility and equity in science.
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