Original source: Deep Tide TechFlow
Rhythm BlockBeats Note: On November 8, Binance Labs announced investment in the DeSci project BIO Protocol. On December 23, Binance Launchpool announced that it would launch the 63rd project Bio Protocol (BIO). It will go live on January 3, 2025, at 18:00, opening trading pairs BIO/USDT, BIO/BNB, BIO/FDUSD, and BIO/TRY. Through this article, readers can gain a better understanding of BIO Protocol and the DeSci track. This article was first published on November 9, and some data may have changed; the latest information will be based on official account announcements.
Beyond the meme craze, the crypto industry is still making real project investments, and Binance Labs' investment trends are also closely watched. Binance Labs announced its investment in the decentralized science (DeSci) related protocol BIO Protocol, marking the first time Binance Labs has invested in a project in the DeSci track, making BIO Protocol the focus of attention. However, things seem to have always followed a traceable path.
Although CZ has gradually stepped back from Binance, he mentioned in a letter to the judge during legal issues in the first half of the year: 'I feel that there is too much medical research currently driven by interests... I want to help fund small research labs. Over the past few years, I have talked to many biotech startups in this field.' Focusing on the medical and scientific fields is the thinking of key figures from Binance, which has influenced the investment department's focus and decision-making inertia.
So, what exactly is BIO Protocol, and what outstanding features attract the investment from Binance Labs?
Decentralized science incubator
In fact, the document in which Binance Labs announced its investment in BIO has already pointed out the essence of BIO --- 'the on-chain science version of Y Combinator.'
Y Combinator is a famous technology startup incubator that provides funding, guidance, and resources for early-stage startups to help them grow and develop quickly.
The so-called on-chain science refers to the scientific research and funding process conducted using blockchain technology. 'On-chain' means these activities and transactions occur on the blockchain, featuring transparency and decentralization.
If we compare it to YCombinator, a rough functionality point of BIO Protocol could be:
Incubation function: Like Y Combinator incubating technology startups, the BIO protocol provides support and resources for scientific research projects.
Funding support: Through blockchain technology, BIO can more easily raise funds for research projects.
Community participation: Allowing scientists, patients, and investors globally to participate in and support research projects.
Accelerated development: Helping research projects grow quickly, similar to Y Combinator accelerating the development of startups.
Innovative model: Introducing new research funding and commercialization models, breaking the limitations of traditional research funding.
How exactly are all these functionality points implemented? This involves the core design of the BIO Protocol.
From the perspective of a more common crypto project, the essence of BIO Protocol is a curation and liquidity protocol in the decentralized science (DeSci) field. Its design philosophy originates from the team's previous successful experiences in Molecule (a tokenization platform for biomedical early projects) and VitaDAO (the largest decentralized community for longevity science).
The BIO protocol mainly includes the following core components:
1. BioDAO: Sub-DAOs focused on specific scientific or medical research
BioDAO members pool resources (data, capital, labor) together, leveraging the collective power of globally distributed stakeholders (e.g., patients, scientists, and biotechnology builders) to accelerate R&D processes and develop new intellectual property.
BioDAO raises funds through token sales and uses its funds to support and develop biotechnology projects related to its mission, creating shared intellectual property ownership among its members.
Currently, BIO officials have also announced some successful cases of DAO, some of which are also connected with universities, research institutions, and pharmaceutical companies in the real world, successfully demonstrating the effectiveness of this model:
2. Curation System
Utilize a token staking mechanism, combining community voting and professional evaluation to select and support high-quality biotechnology projects.
Specifically, BIO token holders can manage which bioDAOs are accepted into the BIO network by staking their BIO tokens on the bioDAOs they wish to accept.
BioDAOs that vote to enter the network receive funding through BIO Launchpad, as well as token liquidity support from the community, incentives, and other acceleration services.
3. Liquidity and IPization
Provide tokenization solutions for biotechnology IP, allowing these IPs to be tokenized (in forms like NFTs and FTs); at the same time, establish a secondary market trading mechanism to achieve liquidity for research project investments.
Among them, the intellectual property tokens ('IP-Tokens' or 'IPT') represent a partial governance right over the intellectual property (IP) generated. These tokens allow holders the opportunity to directly participate in the development, decision-making, and future direction of the research.
BioDAO develops and acquires ownership of IP tokens. Each BioDAO typically holds a portfolio of IP tokens representing intellectual property related to specific scientific research fields. For example, VitaDAO develops and owns stakes in IPTVitaRNA and VITA-FAST.
When someone acquires an IPToken, they will gain a stake in the IP generated by the research, which includes patents for new compounds, proprietary screening systems, and possibly even treatment methods.
However, unlike other NFT profit-sharing models, IPToken does not grant holders the right to guaranteed financial returns or income sharing from the commercialization of these assets, but benefits in real scientific research, such as:
Gain exclusive information, receive the latest updates and detailed reports on intellectual property research and development progress, and gain early or preferential access to innovations, collaborations, or future opportunities related to intellectual property.
4. Incentive Mechanism (Bio/Acc Rewards)
Designing a special acceleration reward mechanism to incentivize early participants and contributors to promote rapid development of the ecosystem.
Bio/Acc Rewards provide incentives to bioDAOs in the form of BIO tokens to achieve key milestones. Essentially, it means incentivizing both the B2B and B2C sides, as long as they complete the following events:
For institutions and research organizations: Initial token auctions through BIO Launchpad, funding science (IP-Token release), generating considerable income from consumer product launches, and conducting decentralized clinical trials, etc.
For general users: Contributing to clinical trials or self-reported health data, using bioDAO products (such as certain medical supplies), and purchasing bioDAO products in online/offline stores, etc.
Token economics and auction analysis
The native token of the BIO protocol is $BIO, deployed on Ethereum, contract address: 0xcb1592591996765Ec0eFc1f92599A19767ee5ffA
Holders can participate in key decisions of the protocol, including:
- Select and support bioDAOs that join the BIO network
- Decide the terms for participating in bioDAO and its IP token sales
- Provide support and discounts for health products/services of bioDAO
- Governance within member bioDAOs
- Decide the issuance of BIO tokens, treasury allocation, and protocol upgrades
With the growth of bioDAOs in the BIO network and the appreciation of IP assets, BIO token holders may benefit from it. The BIO treasury accumulates value through various mechanisms, including token distributions from incubated bioDAOs and liquidity (POL) owned by the protocol.
In terms of token supply, the total initial supply is 3,320,000,000 BIO, with the following characteristics:
- Current status: Non-transferable (currently cannot be traded on secondary markets)
- Maximum supply: Unlimited, future increases may be determined through governance voting
- Increase mechanism: Requires deploying a new token contract to replace the current BIO token
In terms of token distribution, the community (totaling 56%):
- Community Airdrop (6%): 199,200,000 BIO
- Community Auction (20%): 664,000,000 BIO
- Ecosystem Incentives (25%): 830,000,000 BIO
- Molecule Ecosystem Fund (5%): 166,000,000 BIO
Other allocations are as follows:
- Core Contributors (21.2%): 703,840,000 BIO
- Investors (13.6%): 451,520,000 BIO
- Molecule (5%): 166,000,000 BIO
- Advisors (4.2%): 139,440,000 BIO
Each category has its specific unlock schedule:
Community airdrop:
Public airdrop portion: No lock-up
bioDAO and founding members: 1-year cliff followed by a 6-year linear unlock
Community auction: 50% immediately available, 50% linear unlock over 1 year
Ecosystem incentives: No lock-up
Core contributors: 1-year lock-up period, followed by a 6-year linear unlock
Molecule Ecosystem Fund: 4-year linear unlock
Molecule: 4-year linear unlock
Investors: 1-year lock-up period followed by a 4-year linear unlock
Advisors: 1-year lock-up period followed by a 6-year linear unlock
At the same time, the BIO protocol uses a dual-round Genesis auction mechanism for the token launch.
Genesis is the launch plan for the BIO protocol, aimed at distributing initial tokens through auctions and raising funds for the protocol. This plan is divided into two rounds, each with its specific goals and mechanisms.
The first round adopted a British auction mechanism, where participants bid using ETH. The primary goal of this auction was to establish an initial community, discover the market price of BIO tokens, and raise initial funds for the protocol.
The first round has been successfully completed, and currently, BIO is in the second round of the Genesis program. This round uses a Dutch auction mechanism, distributing a total of 12.75% of the token supply (Note: As of November 15, the second round auction has also ended)
Interested investors can participate in the auction through BIO's official platform. Participants need to connect their wallets first, and then choose to participate in the auction of bioDAO asset pools or ETH pools based on their interests. (Deep Tide Note: This is only a link and information organization, not investment advice, please DYOR)
After the auction, participants will receive BIO tokens, of which 50% will be immediately available, and the other 50% will be linearly unlocked over one year. This mechanism aims to balance immediate liquidity and long-term holding incentives.
In addition to the Genesis auction, BIO has also designed a comprehensive airdrop plan aimed at rewarding early supporters and expanding the community. The main features of the airdrop plan are as follows:
The BIO airdrop program allocated 6% of the total supply, approximately 199,200,000 BIO tokens. This amount is quite substantial, showing the project's emphasis on community building.
The airdrop primarily targets three categories of groups:
Public airdrop: Targeting early users of the Molecule platform, members of life sciences-related DAOs, etc.
bioDAO airdrop: specifically targeting bioDAOs that have joined the BIO network
Founding member airdrop: Rewarding early contributors
Different types of airdrops have different lock-up periods; the public airdrop portion has no lock-up period, and users can use it immediately. However, the airdrops for bioDAO and founding members have longer lock-up periods, including a 1-year lock-up period and a 6-year linear unlock.
Overall, the Genesis launch plan and airdrop strategy of BIO demonstrate the project's commitment to fair distribution, community participation, and long-term development. Through multiple rounds of auctions and multi-level airdrops, BIO is actively building a diversified and highly engaged community, laying a solid foundation for its decentralized biomedical research network.
Not an isolated case
In addition to BinanceLabs being involved in the DeSci track through this project, other VCs are also watching closely.
Previously, we mentioned in (Interpreting AminoChain: a16z enters DeSci for the first time with a $5 million lead investment, patients contribute biological samples for income) that about 40 days ago, a16z also entered this track for the first time to invest in projects.
In a market rhythm where VC coins do not take over from one another and memes are rampant, if crypto can do something good for traditional industries, and if VCs can genuinely invest in a project that benefits other industries, it would be a stream of correct and refreshing currents.
As Paul Kohlhaas, the founder of the BIO protocol, said, 'Science drives human progress, but we trap the brightest minds in an endless funding maze—they spend 80% of their time writing grants instead of solving humanity's greatest challenges.'
Less hype, more meaningful technology projects to unlock breakthrough progress; decisions from leading industry investors are certainly worth paying attention to, but the effectiveness of investments and ultimate returns will also need time and the market to validate.
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