Introduction

Traditional scientific research often faces issues such as opaque funding allocation, barriers to data sharing, and challenges in translating research outcomes into practical applications. With the rise of blockchain technology, a completely new research model—Decentralized Science (DeSci)—has quickly emerged. DeSci aims to democratize scientific research and discovery by enabling scientists to raise funds, conduct experiments, and share data. It builds more efficient collaboration bridges for stakeholders in the research ecosystem.

In recent years, emerging projects such as VitaDAO, Molecule, and BIO Protocol have rapidly gained attention in the DeSci field, drawing significant interest from the global tech community and investors. By introducing mechanisms like secondary donations and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), DeSci fundamentally transforms the way research funding is allocated, achieving a more equitable distribution of research resources on a global scale.

This article comprehensively analyzes the core concepts of DeSci and the representative project BIO Protocol, exploring its development potential and existing challenges. It focuses on the profound impact of this emerging field on scientific research and medical data management, offering key insights for potential investors.

Latest DeSci Market Trends (Source: Top Decentralized Science (DeSci))

What is DeSci?

Concept

In traditional scientific fields, transitioning from basic research to commercialization often faces the uncertain risks of the “valley of death.” These challenges include factors such as peer review constraints and data silos. Overcoming these critical obstacles requires a newer, more effective approach. With the rapid development of blockchain technology, decentralized science (DeSci) solutions, characterized by transparency, traceability, and incentive mechanisms, offer the potential to connect stakeholders in scientific research, optimize research funding allocation, and accelerate the translation of research outcomes. DeSci is emerging as a key path to overcome these barriers.

Challenges of the “Valley of Death” in Traditional Science Commercialization (Source: alzped.nia.nih)

DeSci, short for Decentralized Science, is an emerging research model that relies on blockchain technology. By using public funding, transparent storage, and broad dissemination, DeSci aims to break down the centralized barriers in traditional science (TradSci), such as difficulties in data sharing, opaque funding allocation, and the over-reliance on institutions for research results. DeSci transforms scientific research into a crowdfunding model, promoting the secure sharing and flow of data.

As early as 2021, projects like VitaDAO began to make their mark. Recently, the rapid rise of DeSci has been driven by the celebrity effect. Last month, a well-known exchange announced its strategic investment in BIO Protocol, sparking widespread market attention. Soon after, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin attended the DeSci Day event in Bangkok, directly catalyzing the rapid spread of the DeSci concept.

Andrew Kang, partner at Mechanism Capital, wrote in a post that the current state of DeSci development is strikingly similar to the early DeFi era of 2019. Although still in its nascent and experimental stage, DeSci has already shown immense potential, providing an exciting space for future growth. Against this backdrop, emerging projects like Pump.Science have gained quick popularity, with biological experiment tokens RIF and URO achieving 1,000x returns in a short period, validating the market potential of the DeSci field and accelerating the widespread adoption of decentralized science concepts.

URO Price (Source: coinmarketcap）

DeSci Project Case Studies

Ⅰ. VitaDAO

VitaDAO is the first truly actionable DeSci project, founded in July 2021. Its mission is to extend human lifespan and prevent age-related diseases, with funding decisions made through crowdfunding. In January 2023, VitaDAO raised $4.1 million, with support from Pfizer and Coinbase. Initially, Pfizer had already invested $500,000 in VitaDAO to support its longevity research initiatives.

Recently, VitaDAO launched an interdisciplinary network of scientists called VitaLabs, which focuses on conducting internal aging research projects and securing intellectual property through Intellectual Property Tokens (IPT). During this year’s Devcon, VitaDAO also showcased its first physical longevity product, VD001. This high-dose spermidine supplement has been approved by the Thai Food and Drug Administration and represents a key outcome in the application of longevity medicine theory.

Ⅱ. Pump Science

Pump.Science is a derivative project of Pump.Fun, a native meme incubator on the Solana blockchain. Its goal is to fund and develop compounds that may extend the lifespan of humans or other organisms. The project operates like a game, combining cryptocurrencies’ speculative and meme-driven characteristics with scientific exploration and entertainment. Through instant market experiments, it incentivizes collective participation to support cutting-edge life science research.

The project provides an open platform for individuals with research ideas. For instance, users can submit drug information as proposals and create sub-tokens through Pump.Fun. Suppose other interested users purchase these tokens and the market capitalization reaches $10,000. In that case, the medical research organization ORA Biomedical will initiate a worm test for the drug, with results synchronized to the platform. At the end of the trial, if the market cap of the compound token meets a set threshold, the next trial will receive funding, and the research progress will be evaluated using the PLE (Percentage of Lifespan Extension) metric.

Ⅲ. Molecule

Molecule uses blockchain technology to create a global, interoperable intellectual property (IP) system. Its goal is to bridge the gap between biotechnology translation and the funding required for its advancement, allowing researchers to spend more time on research and less on applying for funding. Through decentralized governance and community involvement, Molecule is committed to promoting global collaboration in scientific research and turning more innovations into practical applications.

Mechanically, Molecule tokenizes intellectual property such as datasets, patents, and papers, generating IP-NFTs. These prove asset ownership and serve as liquidity tools for financing, trading, or cross-institutional collaboration, facilitating early-stage research projects to secure the necessary funding. This innovation has made Molecule widely applicable in various fields within DeSci and has become an important infrastructure for the BIO Protocol.

IP-T mechanism (Source: molecule.xyz)

What is BIO Protocol?

BIO Protocol is a blockchain-based DeSci platform primarily built on the Ethereum blockchain. It utilizes the Molecule protocol’s Intellectual Property Tokenization (IPT) model to allow researchers and investors to own the equity of research project outcomes jointly, reshaping early-stage scientific research funding. The project aims to democratize access to research funding, enable the management and trading of intellectual property, promote collaboration among researchers, patients, and biotechnology professionals, and optimize the allocation of global research resources.

The BIO Protocol project was founded by core members of VitaDAO, a Swiss non-profit organization focused on decentralized science, which has received strong support from Pfizer and prominent investor Balaji Srinivasan. On December 31, 2024, BIO Protocol announced that former MakerDAO founding team member seanwbren.eth had joined to support, develop, and fund BioDAO’s AI agent business, including maximum integration using the ElizaOS framework and the decentralized knowledge graph built in SciGraph within ID Theory.

Through its Biotechnology Decentralized Autonomous Organization (BioDAO), BIO Protocol enables stakeholders to collectively own research projects, representing a collective approach to achieving breakthroughs in biosciences. Token holders participate in voting by staking their tokens to decide which BioDAOs receive funding support and other project acceleration services. Notably, unlike traditional NFT revenue-sharing models, IP tokens do not guarantee holders financial returns from the commercialization of these assets. Their value is more reflected in the impact on real-world research participation and contributions to the future development of the projects.

Currently, BIO Protocol encompasses multiple BioDAOs focusing on cryopreservation, women’s health, and mental health, with plans to expand into research areas like long-term COVID treatments, rare disease therapies, and pioneering quantum microscopy technologies. Recently, a well-known institution provided seed round investment to BIO Protocol, which could help further refine its ecosystem and accelerate its global expansion.

Bio Protocol Projects Overview (Source: bio.xyz)

BIO Protocol Operational Mechanism

Specifically, BIO Protocol operates through five core functions: Curation, Funding, Liquidity, Cumulative Rewards, and Meta-Governance:

BIO Protocol Operational Mechanism (Source: BIO Protocol | BIO)

Ⅰ. Curation
BIO token holders participate in curating which new BioDAOs will join the ecosystem, thus enabling a bottom-up approach to funding science. The community-selected BioDAOs will receive funding, be added to the treasury, and ultimately receive support from the BIO Protocol. Since BIO Protocol relies on high-quality BioDAOs, curation requires the locking of BIO tokens to ensure that participants align with the network for the long term.

By using vBIO (locked BIO), BIO holders can express their support for new DAO applicants, who are submitted to the BIO Protocol by “operators” (network stakeholders supporting BioDAO’s incubation phase). BIO holders use vBIO tokens to stake on the BioDAOs they wish to endorse. If the vote passes, the stakers will gain access to whitelisted funding rounds and privileged access to DAO products, data, or services.

Ⅱ. Funding
If a BioDAO applicant is accepted by the BIO network, all vBIO stakers who have committed to the BioDAO will be able to participate in the initial private auction—whitelisted seed rounds. Thus, through BIO, users can support groundbreaking science from day one on terms equal to or better than venture capital or other institutions, becoming network participants in that specific research field.

Ⅲ. Liquidity
BioDAO returns to its essence by managing liquidity positions in the BioDAO secondary market and focusing on science.

Specifically, the BIO Protocol can use BIO tokens and other tokens held in the BIO treasury to support on-chain liquidity within the BIO network. BIO tokens can be paired in liquidity pools with BioDAO tokens (e.g., VITA/BIO, HAIR/BIO) as well as other assets (e.g., BIO/ETH) to facilitate low-cost conversions within the network, generate fees, and build liquidity owned by the protocol (POL).

Ⅳ. Cumulative Rewards
BIO Protocol issues rewards in the form of BIO tokens (“bio/acc rewards”) to incentivize BioDAOs to reach key milestones of network value. BIO holders may use bio/acc rewards to incentivize BioDAO milestones, such as: funding on-chain science of certain value, maintaining a certain level of token liquidity, developing IP into clinical trials, or generating sales from consumer products/services.

Ⅴ. Meta-Governance
BIO Protocol will hold various BioDAO tokens in its treasury, allowing it to act as a meta-governance layer. This will enable BIO holders to manage a wide range of BioDAOs and scientific IP assets.

BIO Token Economics

According to the latest announcement on December 23, the decentralized science management and liquidity protocol Bio Protocol has revealed its tokenomics:

The total initial supply of BIO tokens is 3.32 billion, with no upper limit (though it may increase through governance votes). Later, the DAO may deploy a new token contract and propose the minting of over 1 billion additional tokens. The BIO token will be issued on the Ethereum mainnet as a native ERC20 token controlled by BioDAO, with the contract address: 0xcb1592591996765Ec0eFc1f92599A19767ee5ffA.

As a governance token with no inherent economic value, $BIO does not have intrinsic appreciation potential but can be used to vote on any strategic and operational decisions within the DAO. These include curating BioDAOs joining the BIO network, setting terms for participation in BioDAO and IP token sales, supporting BioDAO products and services, meta-governance within member BioDAOs, BIO emissions, treasury distribution, and BIO Protocol upgrades.

Specifically, the total supply of BIO tokens at Genesis will be distributed across eight categories as shown in the following breakdown:

The 56% allocated to the community includes 20% for community auctions, 6% for community airdrops, 25% for ecosystem incentives, and 5% for the Molecule ecosystem fund, while other allocations include 13.6% for investors, 21.2% for core contributors, 4.2% for advisors, and 5% for Molecule.

Bio Protocol Token Distribution Details (Source: docs.bio.xyz)

From the revenue-sharing mechanism perspective, the BIO treasury is used to receive distributions from BioDAO scientific IP assets and generate fees and profits from the on-chain liquidity of BIO tokens, BioDAO tokens, IP tokens, ETH, and other assets, thereby building Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL). In the future, BIO token inflation will also play a role in the protocol’s secondary market liquidity function, with specific details regarding the inflation rate still to be determined.

Additionally, the BIO Network provides a $100,000 grant to incubated BioDAOs in exchange for 6.9% of the BioDAO token supply. These tokens are allocated in the BIO treasury and accumulate as the value of the underlying network DAOs increases, leading to continuous growth in the protocol’s Assets Under Management (AUM).

Advantages and Disadvantages of BIO Protocol

Advantages

Research-Driven Narrative
Thanks to the real-world backing of scientific projects, DeSci (Decentralized Science) has a stronger narrative foundation compared to other MEME projects. Every advancement in a project could spark new rounds of market attention and investment. Moreover, due to its deep connection with traditional medicine, DeSci can potentially attract more traditional industry celebrities, experts, and large institutions in the future. This could help expand market boundaries and lay a solid foundation for its long-term influence.

Transparency in Fundraising
BIO Protocol democratizes fundraising and ensures transparency in fund allocation through crowdfunding. Supporters can track the specific use of funds in real time, breaking the information asymmetry that typically exists in traditional research funding. This addresses issues like market fragmentation, liquidity shortages, and restricted investor access, providing sufficient financial support for biotech projects and creating more convenient participation opportunities for investors.

Protection of Intellectual Property
BIO Protocol creates a transparent market for biotech IP. Through on-chain storage mechanisms, the protocol offers an open-access approach to experimental data management, enhancing the credibility of research outcomes. Intellectual Property Tokenization (IPT) enables researchers to assert ownership over their intellectual property and allows them to sell or license these tokens for economic returns, providing a sustainable profit model for future scientific innovations.

Disadvantages

Conflict with the Long-Term Nature of Scientific Research
Scientific research often involves high investment, high risks, and long timelines, requiring sustained funding and patient support. This contrasts with the profit-driven nature of the cryptocurrency market. Currently, funding in the DeSci field is more concentrated in speculative platforms, such as Pump.Science. While this fast-profit model may attract significant attention and funding in the early stages, it lacks stable support for the long-term investment required for scientific research projects.

Improper Data Disclosure
On one hand, on-chain storage enhances transparency, but the confidentiality requirements in scientific research are high, especially when dealing with patent applications, trade secrets, or high-value studies. Excessive transparency may lead to improper use of intellectual property or the reverse leakage of research data.

Limited Market Size
Given that global research spending amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars, both the liquidity and influence of the DeSci ecosystem are minuscule compared to traditional scientific fields. It is still in the early stages of a “market cap dream.” Thus, there is a noticeable gap between the actual capacity of the DeSci narrative and the demand for driving major scientific breakthroughs. There is still a long road ahead to deeply empower large-scale scientific projects.

Currently, the DeSci market size is over $1 billion (Source: CoinGecko)

The Potential of Decentralized Science (DeSci)

For a long time, traditional medical and research systems have faced the following challenges: First, data is siloed, with experimental data scattered across different institutions, making it difficult to integrate into a unified and comprehensive database. Second, researchers often have to pay high fees to access data, creating significant barriers to data sharing. This has made it difficult for niche fields and breakthrough research to receive adequate support. Third, cross-regional and cross-institutional collaboration is inefficient, limiting the speed of research advancement and the translation of results into practical applications. Additionally, concerns over patient privacy have led to a decrease in willingness to share data, further exacerbating the difficulty of data acquisition. These issues have resulted in low utilization of medical research resources and hindered sustained innovation, highlighting the urgent need for new technologies and mechanisms to address these bottlenecks.

DeSci utilizes blockchain technology to inject new vitality into the scientific research ecosystem by employing a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) mechanism. It offers an open, transparent, and traceable data management model that effectively unleashes the potential of information sharing. In the future, researchers will be able to access high-quality, tamper-proof clinical datasets in real-time, reducing the risk of data duplication and errors, and improving collaboration efficiency across institutions. Furthermore, the patient-consent-based model ensures enhanced privacy protection, supporting the development of personalized treatment plans and empowering the growth of precision medicine.

Traditional Data Management Processes Are Complicated (Source: 3cloudsolutions.com)

While DeSci has begun to demonstrate its potential in overcoming the “valley of death” in scientific research, it still faces numerous challenges before achieving widespread implementation. For instance, from a compliance perspective, the legal sharing and use of data must adhere to global privacy regulations, such as GDPR. Additionally, the acceptance of this emerging technology by users remains uncertain, and large-scale adoption may be limited by cultural differences and a lack of technological understanding, making the market potential still to be fully tested.

To address these challenges, DeSci must make breakthroughs in several key areas. First, DeSci platforms must ensure the legality and transparency of data sharing, establishing a robust data security framework that complies with global privacy regulations. Second, increasing market user acceptance is crucial, which can be achieved by promoting relevant knowledge and successful case studies to help researchers understand and trust this emerging technology. Additionally, cross-cultural localization strategies should be implemented to tailor promotion plans according to the specific needs and characteristics of different markets, thereby maximizing the global application potential of DeSci.

Latest DeSci Industry Updates (Source: x)

Last week, the DeSci platform Molecule tweeted that it will collaborate with Pump.science and the DeSci project BIO Protocol to jointly establish the DeSci Ecosystem Fund, with a fund size of 166 million BIO tokens, representing about 50% of Molecule’s allocation. The goal is to accelerate the development of on-chain scientific IP. Furthermore, Molecule has repurchased $100,000 worth of RIF and URO tokens. This move marks the increasing attention and capital flow into the DeSci sector, which has the potential to drive profound transformations in scientific research.

Recommendations

DeSci has the potential to bring about profound changes to the scientific research industry, and the BIO Protocol project, by merging biotechnology with the DeFi space, represents a significant step forward for decentralized science. Through its innovative crowdfunding investment model, liquidity management, and community governance, BIO Protocol has created an inclusive ecosystem that provides global communities with biotechnology investment opportunities, driving scientific progress on a broad scale.

However, the DeSci market is still in its early stages. Many projects attract users through airdrop incentives and focus primarily on liquidity, making the DeSci model more suited to funding profit-driven medical research, especially for small laboratories, or for achieving niche topics that are highly complex, time-consuming, and require substantial collaboration (such as longevity research). This shows that DeSci is adaptable to certain research fields. The key to its ongoing development will be finding a balance between short-term attention and long-term sustainability, while avoiding speculative market behaviors.

For investors, as the meme market matures, the traditional “pump-and-dump” model used by some altcoin projects through token releases to maintain long-term narratives may no longer be sustainable. The market is shifting toward a more equitable, decentralized, and technology-centric direction. In this context, narratives supported by tangible projects will be more competitive than single-project stories. While meme concepts may lack longevity, tangible projects provide fundamental support, and the synergy between the two could be one of the reasons why emerging concepts like Ai-Meme and DeSci are gaining momentum.

Currently, the DeSci market is still in a phase of rapid development and has not fully matured. Investors should exercise caution in response to short-term market fluctuations. As an important project in the DeSci space, BIO Protocol shows great potential for long-term development with its unique market positioning and the strong technical support provided by Molecule DAO. The crypto industry has a significant siphoning effect, and with the recent celebrity-driven momentum and sustained market recognition, BIO Protocol is in a favorable position to become an industry leader. It remains a project worth long-term attention.