Author: Arain, ChainCatcher
"DeSci" is not a new concept, but since November this year, the term has suddenly gone viral within the community—especially during the November Devcon, where it was endorsed by Binance co-founder CZ and Ethereum founder Vitalik, making many people feel the shift in direction. According to Dune data, the popularity of DeSci has been steadily rising, becoming the foremost trending narrative in recent times.
DeSci (Decentralized Science) is a movement aimed at establishing fair public infrastructure in the field of scientific research using the Web3 stack to fund, create, review, validate, store, and disseminate scientific knowledge, according to the Ethereum Foundation's definition. Specifically, DeSci aims to address challenges in traditional scientific research, such as funding difficulties, insufficient data sharing, and low research transparency; currently, projects solving funding issues are the main type in this track.
According to RootData, there are currently as many as 32 projects in the DeSci track, such a large number makes it difficult to select, but having an outstanding Founder or Co-Founder in a project is exceptionally rare. If these DeSci entrepreneurs were to be ranked, it would form a DeSci founder despise chain: highly vertical entrepreneurs > top elites from crypto/other industries > finance practitioners > other industry serial entrepreneurs.
First tier
First-tier DeSci entrepreneurs not only have directly relevant resumes but are also energetic, holding key positions across multiple projects—however, such entrepreneurs are quite rare. The DeSci projects supported by CZ and Vitalik include first-tier entrepreneurs.
1. Tyler Golato
Active crypto projects: Molecule, VitaDAO, BIO Protocol, PsyDAO (psychedelics), AthenaDAO (women's health), Pump.Science
In the aforementioned projects, Tyler Golato serves as an initiator, advisor, and other positions. Among them, the most noteworthy are the open-source drug development protocol Molecule and the community collective VitaDAO focused on commercializing longevity therapies, where Tyler Golato is the co-founder, Chief Scientist, and CEO of Molecule, while also being a co-founder of VitaDAO.
In terms of resume, Tyler Golato is highly vertical in the field of biological sciences. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (with a pre-med focus), studied at the National Institute on Aging - Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology at the National Institutes of Health from 2015 to 2017 under Dr. David M. Wilson III and Dr. Vilhelm Bohr, focusing on the repair of endogenous DNA damage.
He also worked in the Robert Fine laboratory at Columbia University, researching the mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in pancreatic cancer and developing novel therapeutic strategies for various cancers.
Awards and honors: Previously awarded the NIH Academy Fellows Program; became a finalist in Ignite in 2016, among others.
Published representative research works: (DNA damage and the maintenance of nuclear genome integrity in aging and associated phenotypes), (Latest advances in aging research and drug discovery), (Role of DNA repair in carcinogenesis and cancer therapeutics), etc.
2. Alok Tayi
Active crypto project: Vibe Bio
Alok Tayi himself is an entrepreneur in the biomedicine vertical field, but the only known crypto project he is involved with, Vibe Bio, does not seem to be well-known (with few news reports). Interestingly, Vibe Bio's investor lineup is quite impressive, including Initialized Capital, which has invested in Avalanche and Coinbase, as well as former Coinbase CTO and Andreessen Horowitz general partner Balaji Srinivasan, who has invested in Uber, Twitter, and Ploymarket, all of whom are its investors.
Back to Alok's experience. Alok graduated from Cornell University and obtained a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Northwestern University, completing postdoctoral work with George Whitesides. He has 15 years of research experience and 12 years of entrepreneurial experience, founding two pharmaceutical SaaS companies, PreScouter and TetraScience—together, these two companies have hundreds of employees and over four hundred clients.
Alok founded Vibe Bio after his daughter was diagnosed with a rare disease, as he personally understood that the biggest obstacle to developing treatments is not finding potential treatments but securing funding for them.
Alok has published articles in renowned media and journals such as Forbes, Nature, and Nature Chemistry.
3. Simone Fantaccini
Active crypto project: SynapseDAO
This is a low-key but not simple DeSci track entrepreneur, as the guest invitation list of a biomedicine forum hides the information that Simone Fantaccini is the founder of SynapseDAO.
In fact, Simone Fantaccini is still the Head of Medical Affairs and Chief Strategy Officer at Novartis, a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company.
Simone Fantaccini is an enthusiastic learner and activist; he holds a Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of Florence, a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Polytechnic University of Milan, and an MBA from MIP Politecnico di Milano. Most of the time, Simone Fantaccini is engaged in and promotes work related to biomedicine, mainly focusing on research related to multiple sclerosis, having participated in research work on the activation of (Natalizumab in multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis).
However, in 2023, he began researching cryptocurrencies, first serving as a board member at Native Digital DNA (a project providing asset chain certification solutions based on RFID Smart Dust DNA), and founded SynapseSciences the same year, where he is co-founder and president.
This year, Synapse DAO, named after SynapseSciences, emerged, dedicated to funding research and development for neglected neurological diseases. In this DAO, Simone Fantaccini also brought in Scott Howell, former Chief Strategy Officer and MD at Novartis USA. This means that Synapse DAO has two Novartis people, and he is not fighting alone.
Continuing to work at Novartis, starting a business at Synapse DAO, Simone Fantaccini is actively networking and serves as a member of the advisory committee at VitaDAO.
It turns out that remarkable people always have abundant experiences and are multi-talented.
Second tier
The resumes of second-tier entrepreneurs are relatively less vertical, but still absolutely dazzling, with many entrepreneurs' projects being highly anticipated by the market and often mentioned.
1. Brian Armstrong
Active crypto projects: ResearchHub, Coinbase
Starting from scratch to found Coinbase, he is still a co-founder of Coinbase. Brian Armstrong's entrepreneurial actions in the DeSci field naturally attract attention.
Brian Armstrong graduated from Rice University with dual bachelor's degrees in Economics and Computer Science, as well as a Master's degree in Computer Science. He worked as a developer at IBM and as a consultant at Deloitte in his early career.
In 2011, Brian Armstrong joined Airbnb as a software engineer, during which he encountered difficulties in payment systems and cross-border payments, inspiring him to establish a cryptocurrency-related enterprise.
In 2012, Brian Armstrong co-founded Coinbase with Fred Ehrsam, which has now become the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform in the United States.
In the DeSci track, Brian Armstrong founded ResearchHub, a publishing-related DeSci project aimed at thoroughly transforming the publication model of traditional scientific journals. Using blockchain technology, it builds a brand new research communication platform that allows researchers to publish their research results more conveniently on ResearchHub while uniquely incentivizing and inspiring the vitality and creativity of the research community.
Interestingly, after this, Brian Armstrong, Google Ventures partner Blake Byers, and Greg Johnson, Jacob Kimmel co-founded a project called NewLimit aimed at extending human lifespan. Currently, there is little information about NewLimit, and it is unclear whether it is another layout by Brian Armstrong in the DeSci field, but it has started Brian Armstrong's exploration journey in the biomedicine field.
2. Paul Kohlhaas
Active crypto projects: Molecule, BIO Protocol, Pump.Science
Paul Kohlhaas is a relatively active figure in the crypto field, participating in multiple crypto-related projects. In addition to his experience working at the well-known blockchain company ConsenSys, it is worth mentioning that Paul Kohlhaas often appears in the same project with first-tier Tyler Golato, which may indicate a good working synergy between the two.
Paul Kohlhaas graduated from the University of St. Gallen with a degree in Economics and Politics. Before entering the crypto field, he was a member of the private equity business group at the Frankfurt office of White & Case LLP, specializing in private equity transactions and domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, providing consulting in private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate law.
After entering the crypto field, he worked at ConsenSys and uPort for a while, and then began his entrepreneurial career.
Paul Kohlhaas first co-founded Molecule with Tyler Golato, and later co-created BIO Protocol.
Pump.Science is a meme token platform launched by Molecule based on Solana, allowing users to participate in drug effect predictions and experimental data trading through trading meme tokens representing drugs.
3. Laura Minquini
Active crypto projects: VitaDAO, AthenaDAO
Laura Minquini can be considered a representative of successful individuals from other fields. She is a female entrepreneur with some entrepreneurial experience in the field of longevity and women's health.
Laura Minquini graduated from York University in Canada with a Bachelor's degree in Linguistics, but her career started in the fashion industry, where she excelled in brand promotion and business development. She launched the first technology accessory product focused on fashion, 'case scenario', achieving global premium distribution and millions of dollars in sales within a year, and became a third-party supplier for Apple. She has also collaborated with companies like Louis Vuitton, Apple, and Pantone.
In 2019, Laura Minquini founded the platform MYKIGAI for longevity discoveries and recommendations, thus beginning her exploration into the health industry.
Afterwards, she joined VitaDAO as a contributor and met Tyler Golato, founding a new decentralized collective AthenaDAO to fund women's health research (Tyler Golato serves as an advisor in AthenaDAO).
As a cross-disciplinary figure entering the DeSci track, Ms. Laura Minquini can be said to be 'clinging to the right thigh', but perhaps it is out of interest in the broad field of health? If she is more active and works harder, Laura Minquini is expected to rise to the first tier.
4. Vincent Weisser
Participated projects: PrimeIntellect, Molecule, VitaDAO, BIO Protocol
Vincent Weisser is mainly a technologist. He does not have a particularly outstanding resume, but he has participated in three well-known DeSci projects: Molecule, VitaDAO, and BIO Protocol, collaborating with Paul Kohlhaas and Tyler Golato.
Vincent is also one of the co-founders of Vita DAO and provides consulting for it. He serves as an advisor at Molecule.
His latest development is the creation of a decentralized artificial intelligence platform, Prime Intellect, for which he is the founder and CEO. The platform aims to commoditize computation and intelligence, providing developers with more affordable distributed computing and sustainable business models for open-source models.
Perhaps Vincent Weisser does not aspire to DeSci, and Prime Intellect just announced completing $5.5 million in seed funding this year—perhaps one day looking back, he may slide into the third or even fourth tier of the DeSci track.
Conclusion
Compared to first-tier and second-tier DeSci entrepreneurs, the founders of third-tier and fourth-tier have relatively ordinary resumes. Taking the popular hair loss project HairDAO as an example, its founder Andrew Verbinnen has worked in commercial real estate investment for many years, troubled by hair loss, and developed an interest in cryptocurrencies, which led to the idea of founding HairDAO. Similarly, for data-oriented GenomesDAO, its founder Aldo de Pape is the founder and CEO of the cloud learning platform TeachPitch, and previously worked in business development in the publishing industry.
These entrepreneurs all have commendable work experiences, but as the DeSci track has developed, it has attracted elites from vertical fields, forming a brutal "despise chain". From the characteristics of projects favored by investors, founders with directly relevant experience are more favored: there is reason to believe they have a higher success rate in this track.