Author: WOO X Research
Background: Celebrity endorsement effect, Vitalik + CZ focused attention
Decentralized Science DeSci is not a new concept; as early as March last year, the research organization Messrai published relevant reports. Recently, this track has regained market attention, largely due to Binance's investment in BIO Protocol.
On November 8, Binance completed strategic financing for BIO Protocol, with neither the round nor the amount disclosed. Thanks to Binance's investment, the fundraising activity initiated by BIO Protocol's BIO Genesis community quickly reached its limit, raising a total of $33 million. CZ tweeted about participating in a small business entrepreneur gathering focused on DeSci, and Vitalik was also present.
With substantial investment from Binance, along with endorsements from two major crypto celebrities, what exactly is DeSci? Which projects are worth our attention? Let's take a look with WOO X Research.
Source: @bioprotocol
What is DeSci?
DeSci stands for Decentralized Science, aimed at addressing various issues encountered in scientific research: including lack of transparency in funding distribution, knowledge monopolies, and the openness of research data.
Here are the main characteristics and core concepts of DeSci:
Decentralized Fundraising: Traditional scientific research funding typically comes from governments, academic institutions, or large enterprises, which may be influenced by political or commercial interests. Grant applications often take a long time, and insufficient funding for research projects is common. In DeSci, researchers can raise funds directly from the community through DAOs on the blockchain, for example, using cryptocurrency or issuing tokens for scientific projects, allowing more people to participate and support innovative research.
Open Data and Knowledge Sharing: DeSci encourages storing research data and findings in an open manner on the blockchain, ensuring data transparency and immutability, addressing the current issues of data closure in academia. At the same time, researchers can track citations and usage of their research through blockchain technology to ensure fair distribution of knowledge.
Incentive Mechanisms: DeSci often uses tokens or other blockchain tools as incentives, allowing participants (such as researchers, reviewers, data providers, etc.) to receive rewards within the system. For example, researchers can receive token rewards for publishing papers or sharing data, incentivizing more people to share scientific achievements.
Improving the Peer Review Process: Traditional academic journals and peer review processes may suffer from inefficiency, bias, or high costs. DeSci utilizes smart contracts and distributed review systems to achieve a more transparent and efficient review process, ensuring fair compensation for reviewers.
NFTs and Intellectual Property: In DeSci, research results can be minted as NFTs for tracking and managing intellectual property. For example, a groundbreaking research result can be recorded on-chain as an NFT to ensure the original author's ownership and profits.
The main core point of DeSci lies in the fact that blockchain project funding is prioritized, the development of applications is often disconnected from the funds raised, and situations such as surplus funds and overvaluation can occur, whereas scientific research is quite the opposite: the difficulty of raising funds is high, and scientific research is hard to see results in a short time, with low speculation elements.
DeSci is about channeling hot money from the crypto world into scientific research, with the narrative that blockchain can truly assist scientific research projects, thus benefiting society, which also opens up the imagination space for the valuation ceiling of this track.
Source: @_kaitoai
Representative Projects
VITA: Refers to the BIO Protocol in which Binance has invested, created by one of the founders of VitaDAO. The current token VITA can be said to be the most legitimate DeSci project. VitaDAO was established in 2021, focusing on funding and promoting early longevity science research, with the goal of extending human healthspan. As mentioned earlier, Vitalik and CZ participated in the DeSci gathering, where Vitalik showcased VitaDAO's first longevity product—VD001, a natural high-dose spermidine supplement approved by the Thai FDA.
Not only are there endorsements from crypto celebrities, but VitaDAO also secured $4.1 million in financing as early as January 30, 2023, from Pfizer's venture capital arm, Shine Capital, L1 Digital, and Balaji Srinivasan, among others. Notably, this is Pfizer's first investment in the Web 3 space.
Belongs to Public Chain: ETH
Current Coin Price: 6.2
Current Market Value: $160 million
Number of Holding Addresses: 4,076
Historical Market Cap High: Currently ATH, $160 million
$RIF: A meme coin launched within Pump.Science, which is a meme coin issuance platform introduced by Molecule DAO under the BIO Protocol at the Token2049 Solana Breakpoint conference. However, Pump.Science is not like Pump Fun where anyone can issue coins; the coin issuance project must be linked to scientific research.
Currently, the only meme coins recognized by Pump.Science are RIF and URO, with RIF representing the antibiotic 'Rifampicin,' which primarily inhibits bacterial RNA synthesis and has significant bactericidal effects, treating diseases including tuberculosis, leprosy, trachoma, and veterans' disease.
Rifampicin has been shown to activate cells' natural defense mechanisms against stress and damage. Current experiments on worms have shown effects in extending lifespan and improving health status. Although the research is still in its early stages, we don't yet know if rifampicin can have similar effects in humans, but it is an exciting research direction in current anti-aging therapies.
Belongs to Public Chain: Solana
Current Coin Price: 0.1705
Current Market Value: $170 million
Number of Holding Addresses: 20,146
Historical Market Cap High: $183 million
Source: Dexscreener
$URO: A meme coin launched within Pump.Science, and it is one of the two officially certified coins by Pump.Science along with $RIF.
Urolithin A is a compound that occurs naturally in pomegranates. Its uniqueness lies in its ability to 'clean up' cells. It helps clear out aging, dysfunctional mitochondria, allowing fresh and healthy mitochondria to thrive. It can be thought of as a reset button for cells, helping them maintain optimal functioning.
Belongs to Public Chain: Solana
Current Coin Price: 0.0466
Current Market Value: $46.6 million
Number of Holding Addresses: 12,674
Historical Market Cap High: $60 million
Source: Dexscreener
SCIHUB: An open-source academic paper library founded by neuroscientist Alexandra Elbakyan in 2011, aimed at providing free access to academic papers for everyone, but it has also raised copyright concerns. Scihub was ordered by a publisher to pay $15 million in 2017 after being sued by Elsevier. The founder of WTF Academy, 0xAA, purchased 22% of the total supply of SCIHUB tokens and then transferred 20% to Alexandra Elbakyan's wallet as a show of support for Scihub.
Belongs to Public Chain: Solana
Current Coin Price: 0.0486
Current Market Value: $49 million
Number of Holding Addresses: 13,842
Historical Market Cap High: $73 million
Source: @SciHubFans
Conclusion: Can DeSci really bring practical applications?
The main narrative of DeSci is to channel hot money from the crypto world into the scientific community, where cryptocurrency can play a role in improving the world. However, DeSci is not a new concept that emerged this year; VitaDAO was established as early as 2021, and even the world-renowned pharmaceutical company Pfizer participated in the investment. However, it has always developed quietly without much market attention, until the investment from Binance and the participation of CZ and Vitalik brought this track back into the public eye, with speculation still outweighing actual utility.
As mentioned above, scientific research often burns money and takes a long time, making it difficult to see short-term results after receiving funding. The DeSci tokens driven by memes are not different in essence from previous meme coins, both are manifestations of attention economy, and for the cryptocurrency market that demands immediate returns, there are still significant doubts about the sustainability of DeSci.
If the overall track is to have sustainability, the following conditions must be met:
Continuous Celebrity Endorsement: This round of narrative was initiated by crypto celebrities CZ and Vitalik. If more crypto celebrities can be attracted to participate, it will help solidify the narrative foundation of DeSci and attract more capital and users.
Continued Financing Activities: More financing cases are needed in the future to demonstrate investment institutions' interest in the DeSci track. Institutional involvement in building the track ecosystem can stabilize the overall DeSci fundamentals.
Leading Project Valuation Increase: Currently, the leading projects VITA and RIF have market values between $150 million and $200 million, which is still low compared to many leading projects. If the leading market cap can be raised to the $5 billion range and listed on mainstream centralized exchanges, it could drive other projects up and confirm the development potential of the DeSci track.
