Unlike other one-off narratives, DeSci (Decentralized Science) continues to be mentioned regularly and is receiving ongoing attention from prominent venture capital firms and Layer 1 projects.
Bio Protocol is a leading player in DeSci funding, having successfully curated, funded, and supported more than 10 BioDAOs across Ethereum, Base, and Solana networks.
This Bio V1 update improves the previously centralized and manual curation and funding process, allowing any BIO token holder to participate in curation in exchange for pre-sale BioDAO tokens while enabling projects to easily manage liquidity and utilize value-added services like scientific AI agents (BioAgents). This will accelerate the expansion of the Bio ecosystem by offering transparency and convenience to all stakeholders including BIO token holders, project investors, and researchers.
DeSci has gone through its first hype cycle with attention fading amid the recent marketwide sell-off. Nevertheless, DeSci continues to be mentioned in various circles, and it has been receiving sustained interest from major VCs and projects. Yzi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) took its first step into DeSci investment by investing in Bio Protocol in November last year, and more recently, they appointed biotech expert Jane He as General Partner, signaling plans to expand their investments in this space.
In this way, DeSci is not just a fleeting narrative but one that continues to be mentioned and receive interest. But hold on, if we look at the origin of the term DeSci, it seems to mean introducing decentralization technology like blockchain into science. So, what exactly is DeSci?
DeSci refers not to a specific application, but to all projects that aim to solve the structural problems of modern science using blockchain technology. This includes a wide range of areas such as project funding, paper publishing, and collaboration. The reason structural issues inevitably arise in modern science is due to its thoroughly centralized nature.
Source: Research Hub | Example of Centralized Funding
First, there's the issue of centralized funding. Unlike in the past, modern science is highly advanced, meaning that scientific research today is conducted with numerous researchers and significant financial resources. This inevitably requires large-scale funding, and the funding sources and processes become centralized by nature.
This makes the funding review process inefficient, paradoxically forcing researchers to divert significant resources from their actual research to the funding application process. Moreover, centralized funding often demands short-term results from researchers, pushing them toward studies with immediate goals, while research that lacks immediate visibility or requires a long time frame tends to be marginalized.
The second issue lies in centralized academic journals and conferences. All researchers, in order to present their results, either submit papers to journals or present at conferences. These are crucial milestones in a researcher's career, leading them to compete intensely to publish in prestigious journals and participate in renowned conferences.
Here arises a highly distorted incentive structure: despite the fact that researchers conduct their work using national tax money or corporate funding, journals acquire full copyright over the submitted research results and place them behind paywalls, requiring readers to pay for access. Even worse, if an author wants to distribute their paper freely via open access, they must pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) upon submission. Through this skewed business model, journals generate massive revenue.
In addition, the peer review process in journals is opaque and inefficient. Peer review is the process where submitted papers are evaluated by anonymous fellow researchers to determine whether they should be published. This process takes a long time, and due to its lack of transparency, authors cannot verify whether the review was conducted fairly.
To address these fundamental issues in TradSci, DeSci leverages blockchain technology. Of course, DeSci cannot completely replace TradSci, but it is expected to play an important role in specific areas. Here are some notable examples where DeSci can thrive:
Publishing: There is a movement to decentralize the extremely centralized academic publishing market. A representative example is ResearchHub, founded by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. The core of ResearchHub is its incentive system based on the RSC token, which rewards participants who publish papers, take part in peer review, and contribute to the platform. This aims to foster a virtuous cycle toward a transparent and efficient journal system. However, in my opinion, given the dominance of reputation and authority in today’s scientific world, it may take a long time and many trials and errors for decentralized journals like ResearchHub to bootstrap their credibility.
Source: ResearchHub
Research DAOs and Decentralized Funding: In my personal view, one of the most feasible areas within DeSci is research DAOs and decentralized funding. As mentioned earlier, centralized funding structures push researchers toward short-term or popular topics. Consequently, long-term or less marketable research is often excluded—but this is where DeSci can make a significant impact. Researchers working on such topics can quickly raise small contributions from a wide pool of individuals, and investors in the project may have a chance to receive a portion of future profits if the research leads to monetization.
Among the projects focusing on research DAOs and decentralized funding within DeSci, Bio Protocol stands out as the most prominent. Let’s take a closer look at how such projects are actually funded and how research is conducted through the example of Bio Protocol.
Bio Protocol is a protocol that functions like an incubator, with the goal of curating and supporting bio research DAOs across various fields to drive innovation in biotechnology. The Bio Protocol team has prior experience building some of the most well-known research DAOs such as VitaDAO and Molecule which tokenizes scientific IP on-chain. Considering it is the only DeSci project backed by Yzi Labs, it can confidently be regarded as a frontrunner in the DeSci space.
So far, Bio Protocol has successfully curated, funded, and supported 10 BioDAOs on Ethereum, Base, and Solana networks:
VitaDAO develops and supports technologies related to human longevity. As the most well-known and longest-running research DAO, it has invested over $4.2M across more than 24 projects to date. It gained significant attention when Pfizer, a major player in the traditional pharmaceutical industry, invested in VitaDAO.
HairDAO develops and supports research related to hair loss. HairDAO is also well known for selling a variety of shampoos, including those with active ingredients for hair treatment.
ValleyDAO develops and supports synthetic biology research. It is known for having deployed funding to a research team at Imperial College London.
AthenaDAO develops and supports research related to women’s health.
Cerebrum DAO develops and supports brain health research.
Quantum Biology DAO develops and supports research in quantum biology.
PsyDAO develops and supports research related to psychedelic compounds.
CryoDAO develops and supports research related to cryonics.
Curetopia supports research into treatments for rare diseases.
Long COVID Labs develops and supports research related to the aftereffects of the coronavirus.
Then, what are the benefits for DeSci researchers or BioDAOs to onboard into the Bio Protocol ecosystem? Bio Protocol curates and onboards new BioDAOs into its ecosystem and supports them across non-research domains such as funding, tokenomics, liquidity, and IP NFTization, allowing them to focus solely on their research:
Curation: BIO token holders can curate which research DAOs get onboarded into the ecosystem through staking. Early supporters are given the opportunity to participate in the DAO’s initial funding rounds.
Funding: BioDAOs selected through curation can raise funds from the Bio community through token sales. Additionally, Bio Protocol provides a $100k grant to curated BioDAOs and receives 6.9% of their tokens in return, which are stored in the treasury.
Liquidity: Tokens of curated BioDAOs are paired with Bio Protocol’s governance token (BIO) to create liquidity pools (e.g., VITA/BIO, HAIR/BIO, …), so BioDAOs do not need to worry about operational tasks like liquidity provisioning.
Bio/acc Rewards: Whenever BioDAOs achieve key milestones, Bio Protocol provides BIO tokens as incentives.
Source: Bio Protocol
Ultimately, Bio Protocol aims to onboard high-quality research DAOs by supporting them with funding and infrastructure. As a result, research DAOs can focus on their core mission of research, and investors gain access to high-quality investment opportunities. This form of funding, which was not possible in TradSci, enhances efficiency and transparency while enabling support for diverse research fields.
Personally, I consider Curetopia to be one of the model funding cases within DeSci. Curetopia is a research DAO studying treatments for rare diseases—a field often neglected by traditional pharma due to the vast number of rare diseases and their small market size. In this context, DeSci can play a vital role in complementing TradSci. For more on Curetopia, see “DeSci is Not a Silver Bullet — What Kind of DeSci Makes Sense?: A Curetopia Case Study”.
The entire process within Bio Protocol—where various research DAOs are curated and launch tokens through community sales—resembles launchpads like DAO Maker, which led the IDO boom in the past, or more recently, pump.fun, which fueled the meme coin craze. In fact, Bio Protocol has named its curation platform Bio Launchpad.
So, what needs to be done for Bio Protocol to grow further? While it's important to think about strategies specific to Bio Protocol, it may also be helpful to take a broader perspective and consider what makes a good launchpad in general. In my view, the following are the key elements of a successful launchpad:
Curation: The most important factor determining the quality of a launchpad is project curation. If high-quality projects are curated consistently, the platform will attract more investor attention, creating a positive feedback loop that accelerates the launchpad’s growth.
Investor Attraction: A launchpad must also serve to bring in investors to ensure that onboarded projects can raise funds effectively. This can be done top-down, by onboarding attractive projects, or bottom-up, by offering investment opportunities appealing to investors.
Ecosystem Support: A launchpad shouldn’t just help projects raise funds—it should also offer support services like liquidity provisioning and infrastructure, enabling projects to grow successfully.
Process Framework: Rather than handling the curation and funding processes manually, a launchpad should automate them to enhance scalability.
Decentralization: Ultimately, a launchpad should pursue decentralization, allowing anyone to participate in curation and funding processes. This approach is more aligned with ecosystem expansion.
Currently, Bio Launchpad meets some of these conditions but falls short on others. Bio Protocol has successfully curated high-quality research DAOs, provided token sale opportunities to early supporters, and supported these DAOs with funding and liquidity provisioning. However, It is not yet open to curation by everyone and much of the onboarding process involves manual handling. This stands in contrast to the core value of “open science” that DeSci aims to uphold.
To address these issues and better align with DeSci’s foundational values, Bio Protocol recently introduced the more open and automated Bio V1 Protocol, allowing anyone to participate.
Bio V1 is the first major update to the Bio Protocol. The goal of this update is to transform the previously closed and manually operated processes into an open and automated system, ultimately aiming to build user-owned research networks. The core components of Bio V1 are: 1) the Bio V1 Launchpad, 2) the Liquidity & Incentive Engine, and 3) AI-powered BioAgents.
Source: Bio Protocol
The Bio V1 Launchpad is the first component to be released under the Bio V1 Protocol and consists of three main stages: 1) Curation, 2) Funding, and 3) Liquidity.
2.2.1 Curation
Curation is the process by which the community selects the next BioDAO to be onboarded into the Bio ecosystem. In the previous Bio V0 Protocol, curation was carried out in a centralized manner by the Bio Protocol team. In Bio V1, the process has been updated so that any token holder can participate in curation.
During the 7-day curation period, token holders can stake their BIO tokens into the BioDAOs they wish to see onboarded. Curation is divided into two phases. Initially, only whitelisted curators can participate. Whitelisted curators include individuals holding more than one million BIO tokens or those affiliated with the project. After this period ends, any BIO holder can participate in the curation.
If the total staked BIO tokens surpass a certain threshold by the end of the curation period, the BioDAO passes the curation process, and BIO stakers receive the DAO's tokens at a discounted pre-sale valuation. This is the lowest possible entry point for early supporters to acquire DAO tokens. If the staked BIO fails to meet the threshold, holders can reclaim their staked tokens.
2.2.2 Funding
BioDAOs that successfully pass curation move on to the funding stage. In this stage, investors can purchase the DAO’s tokens at a low price using ETH or SOL. Projects can choose between two funding mechanisms: bonding curve sales and threshold price auctions.
Bonding curve sales allow tokens to be tradable from day one of funding. Since it uses a bonding curve commonly seen in AMMs, token prices increase as more participants buy in. Initial liquidity is formed using a designated allocation set aside by the BioDAO. If the funding target is reached, the BioDAO can utilize the raised ETH or SOL.
Threshold price auctions determine token price based on the total amount of funds received from interested investors during a set period. Unlike bonding curve sales—where token prices vary per investor—threshold auctions distribute tokens to all participants at the same final price, which is seen as fairer, although tokens remain illiquid during the auction process.
The final stage of the Bio V1 Launchpad is the automated creation of liquidity for projects onboarded into the Bio ecosystem. In Bio V0, liquidity pools were manually deployed after token sales. In Bio V1, once funding is complete, liquidity pools are automatically formed, enabling immediate token trading.
ETH or SOL collected during the funding phase is made available to the BioDAO. Meanwhile, Bio V1’s liquidity engine creates a liquidity pool by pairing the BIO tokens staked during curation with the BioDAO tokens. Managing liquidity is especially challenging for tokens with low market caps, but Bio Protocol automates this process, allowing BioDAOs to focus entirely on research.
In addition, BioDAOs that pass curation can continue to receive BIO token rewards as they hit key milestones. According to Biopsy-5, 4% of BIO is allocated for this, with milestone examples including IP token issuance, consumer product revenue growth, and decentralized clinical trials.
Source: Bio Protocol
The third core update in Bio V1 is AI-powered BioAgents. BioAgents are largely divided into two groups: Core Agents, which are responsible for treasury, governance, marketing, multi-signature management, and more; and the BioAgent Fleet, which focuses on scientific analysis, IP development, and related tasks.
Source: Bio Protocol
BioAgent fleet can help BioDAOs automate various tasks such as data analysis, hypothesis generation, experiment design, and IP revenue claims. In summary, By leveraging BioAgents, BioDAOs can improve research efficiency in terms of cost and time, and in the future, they could also generate fee-based revenue from external institutions seeking to use these agents.
With Curetopia as the final project, the Bio V0 Launchpad has come to an end, and the newly updated Bio V1 Launchpad is set to onboard three BioDAOs: SpineDAO, MycoDAO, and ReflexDAO.
2.5.1 SpineDAO
SpineDAO develops and supports research related to spinal health. The spinal treatment market is expected to reach $14B by 2031, and more than 500 million people worldwide suffer from spine-related conditions. Spinal diseases are among the most difficult and expensive to treat.
SpineDAO’s key research areas include:
AI agents for surgical decision-making: Spine surgeons spend a lot of time assessing patients who don’t actually need surgery, which delays treatment for those who do. To address this, “FILTER,” an agent powered by AI models, blockchain technology, and incentive systems, automates and assists decision-making regarding surgical necessity.
Standardizing decisions through machine learning: Surgical strategies vary widely across doctors and hospitals, resulting in inconsistent outcomes. To solve this, SpineDAO trains AI models on large, labeled datasets from real surgeries to recommend optimal surgical strategies.
Post-surgical IoT monitoring: Complications during post-op recovery can lead to delayed treatment and increased costs if not monitored in real-time. To counter this, SpineDAO builds a post-op monitoring system using IoT, AI analytics, and blockchain infrastructure.
2.5.2 MycoDAO
MycoDAO aims to support environmental restoration, sustainable materials, and therapeutic development by leveraging the ecological and biotechnological potential of fungi. There are 48,000 undiscovered mushroom species with potential therapeutic effects, and the potential annual market value of compounds derived from them is estimated at $2.5 trillion.
MycoDAO focuses on three key areas:
Bioremediation: Using fungi as bio-factories to produce valuable compounds.
Franchise-style labs: Setting up modular, small-scale labs for fungal research.
Mycology education support: Running scholarship programs to support future mycologists.
2.5.3 ReflexDAO
ReflexDAO aims to prevent and manage chronic diseases using autonomic nervous system data collected via wearable sensors. Chronic disease is a massive market—60% of U.S. adults suffer from it, and 86% of U.S. healthcare spending goes toward its management. ReflexDAO uses blockchain technology to securely share and utilize patients’ autonomic nervous system data.
Bio Protocol stands as the most prominent protocol in the DeSci funding space and has supported numerous research DAOs so far. What’s encouraging is the rapidly increasing number of research DAOs onboarding into the Bio ecosystem—and the fact that these DAOs are beginning to deliver actual research outcomes and products. Given the nature of biotech, if a major pharmaceutical patent succeeds, it could generate immense profits. Should such a case materialize within the Bio ecosystem, DeSci could receive unprecedented attention.
In addition, with the Bio V1 update, Bio aims to build a more decentralized and self-sustaining scientific ecosystem than ever before. This will enable the onboarding of more research DAOs, increase the value of Bio Protocol as a meta-governance layer, and ultimately accelerate the expansion of the DeSci ecosystem.
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