Author: Austin Freimuth, Messari Research Analyst; Compiled by 0xjs@Golden Finance
DeSci is gaining widespread attention. Just this month, Binance Labs invested in BIO Protocol, CZ and Vitalik Buterin attended a DeSci event held in Thailand, and ResearchHub hosted the inaugural SciCon conference. However, the most striking milestone is the groundbreaking success of Pump.Science, whose memecoins RIF and URO saw their total market cap soar to over $350 million on November 18.
Pump.Science announced last month at Solana Breakpoint, aiming to accelerate breakthroughs in longevity science through gamification. It raises funds by utilizing rapid liquidity generation on pump.fun and introduces its own mechanisms to gamify the research and development process. Traders are referred to as 'PHDegens', who speculate on experimental results involving different compounds. These experiments are represented by memecoins, such as RIF (Rifampicin) and URO (Urolithin A).
A significant challenge faced by scientists is that the process of obtaining R&D funding is very time-consuming and often comes at the expense of experiments. This issue is particularly severe in fields like longevity research, where the lack of immediate profitability leads to funding shortages and slow scientific progress. Through its novel approach, Pump.Science can reduce this funding time from months to hours.
Source: DeSci Declaration
The working principle of Pump.Science is as follows:
1. An experimental idea has been submitted and SOL has been provided to initiate the process.
2. A token was launched on pump.fun, SOL, to create initial liquidity and fund experiments, as the token is sold at market cap milestones.
3. Experiments are divided into three phases: worms, flies, and mice. Testing is conducted at third-party laboratories Ora Biomedical and Tracked Biotechnologies.
4. Video updates are uploaded to the platform every hour. Once the token's market cap exceeds $10,000, the initial video of the first phase will be deployed.
5. PHDegens trade tokens, speculating on whether each compound can successfully extend the lifespan of the test subjects.
Currently, the experiments of RIF and URO are in a pilot phase. The platform provides video updates and data on survival rates, movement, and other metrics to guide trading decisions. For compounds like Urolithin A that can be self-administered without a prescription, phase four will use wearable devices to collect data.
Source: Pump.Science X account
Next month, the team will launch 10 to 20 new tokens to expand the range of experiments. The ultimate goal is to develop a supplement store that sells over-the-counter products based on the most promising compounds. The tokens will provide partial rights to intellectual property, and profits from supplement sales will benefit token holders through buybacks and burns. The team also mentioned plans to integrate AI agents and is considering collaborating with Daos.Fun to establish a science fund.
Despite still being in the early stages, Pump.Science is reimagining longevity R&D through gamification, sparking broader interest in DeSci regarding this process.