Article reposted from: Deep Tide TechFlow
Author: Deep Tide TechFlow
Outside of the meme craze, the crypto industry is still making practical project investments, and Binance Labs' investment trends are also under close scrutiny.
Yesterday, Binance Labs announced an investment in the decentralized science (DeSci) related protocol BIO Protocol, marking Binance Labs' first investment in a project in the DeSci sector, and BIO Protocol has become the focus of attention.
However, things seem to have always been traceable.
Although CZ has gradually stepped back from Binance, during legal issues earlier this year, he mentioned in a letter to the judge:
"I think current medical research is too driven by interests... I want to help fund small research labs. Over the past few years, I have talked to many biotech startups in the field."
Focusing on the field of medicine and science is a thought process that once influenced key figures at Binance, which somewhat affects the investment department's perspective and decision-making inertia.
So, what exactly is BIO Protocol, and what unique features does it have to attract investment from Binance Labs?
Incubator for decentralized science.
In fact, in the documentation announcing Binance Labs' investment in BIO, BIO's essence was clearly identified --- 'the on-chain science version of Y Combinator.'
Y Combinator is a famous tech startup incubator that provides funding, guidance, and resources to early-stage startups to help them grow and develop rapidly.
The so-called on-chain science version refers to the scientific research and funding process conducted using blockchain technology. 'On-chain' means these activities and transactions are carried out on the blockchain, characterized by transparency and decentralization.
If we compare it to YCombinator, a rough functionality point for BIO Protocol could be:
Incubation Function: Similar to Y Combinator incubating tech startups, 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: Allows global scientists, patients, and investors to participate in and support research projects.
Accelerated Development: Helps research projects grow rapidly, similar to how Y Combinator accelerates the development of startups.
Innovative Models: Introduces new research funding and commercialization models, breaking the limitations of traditional research funding.
How are all these functionalities specifically realized? This involves the core design of the BIO Protocol.
From the perspective of crypto projects, the essence of BIO Protocol is a curation and liquidity protocol in the decentralized science (DeSci) field. Its design concept stems from the team's previous successful experiences in Molecule (a tokenization platform for early biomedical 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 different 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 biotech 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 DAOs, some of which are connected with universities, research institutions, and pharmaceutical companies in the real world, successfully demonstrating the effectiveness of this model:
2. Curation System
Adopt a token staking mechanism, combining community voting and professional evaluation to screen and support high-quality biotech projects.
Specifically, BIO token holders can manage which bioDAOs are accepted into the BIO network by staking BIO tokens on the bioDAOs they wish to support.
Voting bioDAOs enter the network through the BIO Launchpad to obtain funding, as well as token liquidity support, incentives, and other acceleration services from the community.
3. Liquidity and IP Tokenization
Provide tokenization solutions for biotech IP, allowing these IPs to be tokenized (like NFTs and FTs); meanwhile, establish a secondary market trading mechanism to achieve liquidity for research project investments.
Among them, intellectual property tokens ('IP-Tokens' or 'IPT') represent partial governance over the intellectual properties (IP) generated. These tokens give holders the opportunity to directly participate in the development, decision-making, and future direction of research.
BioDAO develops and obtains ownership of IP tokens. Each BioDAO typically holds a portfolio of IP tokens representing intellectual property related to a specific scientific research area of the BioDAO. For example, VitaDAO develops and owns shares of IPTVitaRNA and VITA-FAST.
When someone obtains an IPToken, they will gain shares of the IP generated by the research, including patents for new compounds, proprietary screening systems, and possibly even treatments.
However, unlike other NFT profit-sharing models, IPToken does not grant holders guaranteed financial returns or income-sharing rights from the commercialization of these assets, but rather 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 priority access to innovations, collaborations, or future opportunities related to intellectual property.
4. Incentive Mechanism (Bio/Acc Rewards)
Design special acceleration reward mechanisms to incentivize early participants and contributors to promote rapid development of the ecosystem.
Bio/Acc Rewards provide rewards to bioDAOs in the form of BIO tokens to achieve key milestones. In simpler terms, it incentivizes both B2B and B2C parties, as long as they complete the following events:
For institutions and research organizations: Conduct initial token auctions via the BIO Launchpad, fund science (IP-Token issuance), generate considerable revenue from the release of consumer products, and conduct decentralized clinical trials, etc.
For general users: Contribute to clinical trials or self-reported health data, use bioDAO products (such as certain medical supplies), and purchase bioDAO products in online/offline stores, etc.
Token Economy 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:
Choose and support joining the BIO network's bioDAOs.
Decide the terms for participating in bioDAO and its IP token sale.
Provide support and discounts for bioDAO's health products/services.
Govern within the bioDAOs as members.
Decide on the issuance of BIO tokens, treasury allocation, and protocol upgrades.
As bioDAOs in the BIO network grow and IP assets appreciate, BIO token holders may benefit from this. The BIO treasury accumulates value through various mechanisms, including token allocations from incubated bioDAOs and liquidity owned by the protocol (POL).
In terms of token supply, the total initial supply is 3,320,000,000 BIO, with the following features:
Current Status: Non-transferable (currently not tradable on secondary markets)
Maximum Supply: Unlimited, future increases may be decided through governance voting.
Increase Mechanism: Requires deploying a new token contract to replace the current BIO token.
In terms of token distribution, the community (total 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 distributions 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 unlocking schedule:
Community Airdrop:
Public airdrop portion: No lock-up.
bioDAOs and genesis members: 1-year cliff followed by 6 years 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 6 years of linear unlocking.
Molecule Ecosystem Fund: 4 years linear unlock.
Molecule: 4 years linear unlock.
Investors: 1-year lock-up period followed by 4 years linear unlock.
Advisors: 1-year lock-up period followed by 6 years 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 of the BIO protocol, aimed at allocating 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 an English auction mechanism, where participants bid using ETH. The main purpose of this round of auction is to establish the initial community and 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 plan. This round adopts a Dutch auction mechanism, allocating a total of 12.75% of the token supply; as of the latest news, the second round auction is ongoing, with most auctions completed, and only a few still in progress.
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 either the bioDAO asset pool or ETH pool auction based on their interests. (Note: This is only for linkage and information organization, not investment advice, please DYOR.)
After the auction is completed, participants will receive BIO tokens, with 50% immediately available and the remaining 50% unlocked linearly 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. Here are the main features of the airdrop plan:
The BIO airdrop plan allocates 6% of the total supply, approximately 199,200,000 BIO tokens. This amount is considerable and shows the project's emphasis on community building.
Airdrops are mainly targeted at three groups:
Public Airdrop: Targeted at early users of the Molecule platform, members of life sciences-related DAOs, etc.
bioDAO Airdrop: Specifically targeting bioDAOs that have joined the BIO network.
Genesis Member Airdrop: Rewards for early contributors.
Different types of airdrops have different lock-up periods; public airdrop portions have no lock-up period, and users can use them immediately. In contrast, the airdrops for bioDAOs and genesis members have longer lock-up periods, including a 1-year lock-up and 6 years of linear unlocking.
Overall, BIO's Genesis launch plan and airdrop strategy show the project's emphasis on fair distribution, community participation, and long-term development. Through multiple rounds of auctions and multi-layered airdrops, BIO is actively building a diverse and highly engaged community, laying a solid foundation for its decentralized biomedical research network.
Not an isolated case.
In addition to Binance Labs' involvement in the DeSci sector through this project, other VCs are also waiting for opportunities.
Previously, we mentioned in (Decoding AminoChain: a16z's first foray into the DeSci track with a $5 million lead investment, patients contribute biological samples for profit) that about 40 days ago, a16z also entered this track for the first time to invest in a project.
In a market dominated by VC coins and a plethora of memes, if crypto can do something beneficial for traditional industries, and if VCs can seriously invest in projects that benefit other industries, it can be seen as a refreshing and correct stream.
As Paul Kohlhaas, the founder of the BIO protocol, said, 'Science drives human progress, but we have trapped the smartest minds in an endless maze of funding—spending 80% of their time writing grants instead of solving humanity's greatest challenges.'
Less hype, more meaningful technical projects to unlock breakthrough progress; the decisions of leading investors in the industry are certainly worth paying attention to, but the effects of investment and final returns will require time and market to test.