By: ian@Foresight Ventures
1. Know DeSci —> Question DeSci —> Understand DeSci
1.1 Introduction to DeSci
Pain points:
The lag in infrastructure regarding IP maintenance, access, ownership, and profit distribution around research or knowledge has always been a pain point, especially in academia.
In the complex field of knowledge sharing and discovery, how to balance security, transparency, reward mechanisms, and accessibility is always an ongoing challenge. Traditional models often rely on centralized verification systems, which may limit inclusiveness and broad participation. In addition, existing systems may not adequately reward or recognize knowledge contributions, which may affect the development of a comprehensive, collective knowledge base.
Problems Being Solved:
The central idea of promoting DeSci is that everyone has an equal opportunity to access any level of science and knowledge, and the process of scientific research should also be open and transparent to everyone. Therefore, DeSci is committed to creating an ecosystem where knowledge contributors can be incentivized to share their research, and anyone can browse or even iterate on this content without permission.
This creates a distinctly different research system, in this new model:
The allocation of funds is determined by the public through mechanisms like DAOs, contrasting with the practices in traditional science controlled by small, closed, centralized groups.
The vision of DeSci also lies in promoting dynamic cooperation of various resources on a global scale, breaking through the collaborative limitations set by centralized institutions in traditional science to a certain extent.
The flow of funds is more transparent, and under the support of web3, a more efficient economic system is explored, which is radically different from the time-consuming funding decision-making methods in traditional science. Meanwhile, the incentives of tokens and reputation, as well as the value of peer-review, are also emphasized more strongly.
Knowledge contributors can transparently allocate the intellectual property they generate, which differs from the situation in traditional science where intellectual property belongs to the affiliated institution and access is not transparent. DeSci also encourages sharing all research data, including unsuccessful attempts, to address the publication bias problem of only sharing successful experimental results in traditional science.
1.2 Questioning DeSci
The original intention of DeSci is to establish an ecosystem for scientists or scholars to share academic research and gain ownership of research IP, while for other users, the sense of participation lies more in easily accessing these academic studies. Essentially, the ivory tower of academia has not been broken, and the core players in this ecosystem are still the top scholars.
In what scenario would an ordinary person care about how to more easily access an academic report?
I'm afraid that apart from staying up late at university to rush papers, it will be hard to have such demands after graduation. From a certain perspective, we must acknowledge that the ability to contribute valuable academic IP is held by only a small number of people.
However, from the perspective of examining the track and narrative, this is where the problem of DeSci lies; it is too pure and noble, making it difficult to leverage the true value that web3 can provide, namely community effects and efficient economic systems. Focusing on one point, the foundation of DeSci is not an open knowledge contribution platform, but should be an active ecosystem based on an efficient token system and strong community effects. The foundation of this economy lies in the widespread participation of users; if users cannot truly engage in the gameplay, there is not enough motivation to hold and trade tokens, then the currency value, liquidity, and economic system cannot be sustained.
Therefore, having core players only as scientists clearly does not make sense and cannot form a sustainable mechanism.
2. What kind of DeSci makes more sense
2.1 Understanding DeSci
Science =/= Knowledge
DeSci should not just be the domain of scientists, but should lower the threshold for ordinary people to access science. Therefore, it is best to avoid using 'science' and instead focus on 'knowledge'. Science inherently sets a barrier for DeSci, while knowledge can be data of any form and any field.
Contributing knowledge in one's professional field or interests is itself an attractive thing that easily generates a viral effect. Therefore, opening up the 'science' landscape makes community participation possible and allows web3 to realize its greatest value.
I believe that DeSci should be a pyramid structure, categorizing different levels of participants and contributors in the full-link knowledge sharing process, with each role being indispensable. Scholars, as participants at the top of the pyramid, contribute the core value of DeSci itself while also bringing explosive points to the project. Taking the drug development scenario as an example, if DeSci can participate in or facilitate the上市 of a certain drug, the volume it brings to the track and project is immeasurable. Community users, as participants at the base of the pyramid, also have foundational gameplay, maintaining the efficient operation of the entire ecosystem and economic system.
2.2 The Cornerstone of DeSci - BIO
2.2.1 Introduction to BIO
BIO Protocol is a decentralized scientific financial infrastructure aimed at promoting biotechnology innovation through community collaboration. It provides funding, development, and governance tools for scientific intellectual property to the global community, including patients, scientists, and biotechnology professionals, to accelerate the commercialization of biotechnology research.
Core Functions and Operating Mechanism: Supporting Decentralized Organizations in Biotechnology - BioDAOs
2.2.2 In-Depth BIO
1) Technical Details
The technology stack and architecture design of Bio Protocol aim to support the tokenization and on-chain governance of biotechnology IP.
By developing customized public chains to ensure that the technology, development, commercialization, and trading processes of bioscience are transparent, verifiable, and secure while reducing transaction costs.
The IP-Token mechanism is based on SC, where each IP asset has an independent token and defines its ownership and trading rules. Users can obtain partial or full ownership through trading, creating possibilities for circulation and trading in the secondary market while protecting bioscience research IP.
Based on a DAO architecture, members manage and fund research projects by voting with BIO tokens. Each DAO can gather specialized research fields, such as VitaDAO focusing on longevity research, CryoDAO focusing on cryobiology, etc.
2) Operational Model Analysis
1.BioDAO
BioDAOs are decentralized autonomous organizations within the BIO Protocol ecosystem. Each BioDAO focuses on a specific scientific field, the most notable being vitaDAO. BioDAOs receive continuous funding, liquidity, and infrastructure support through BIO Protocol to accelerate research progress and improve project success rates.
Among them, the parent platform BIO Protocol provides for BioDAOs:
fund: Each BioDAO, upon approval, will receive startup funding from the BIO Protocol treasury. This funding helps BioDAOs gain initial capital to support early research projects and expand their influence.
Liquidity Support: BIO Protocol is responsible for providing on-chain liquidity for BioDAOs. This allows BioDAOs to focus on scientific research without worrying about market liquidity management issues. Through liquidity support, BIO Protocol helps enhance the liquidity and market value of BioDAOs' tokens.
Governance: BIO Protocol establishes a meta-governance layer by holding tokens from multiple BioDAOs. BIO token holders can participate in and make decisions on the operations, funding allocation, and development direction of multiple BioDAOs through meta-governance. This mechanism ensures coordination among BioDAOs within the ecosystem regarding funding flows and research priorities.
IP Commercialization: BIO Protocol helps BioDAOs convert scientific research results into tradable intellectual property assets through its IP tokenization mechanism. This process allows BioDAOs to tokenize the intellectual property of research projects and trade them on-chain, helping scientific achievements gain early capital support and realize the market value of intellectual property.
Standardized Framework: BIO Protocol provides a standard framework for the creation and operation of BioDAOs, including token economics design, governance structure, and data management tools. Through standardized frameworks and support, BIO Protocol lowers the difficulty of creating new BioDAOs, allowing them to enter the market faster and operate effectively.
2.Curation
The curation mechanism of BIO Protocol aims to select and support the most promising BioDAOs to join the BIO ecosystem. Curation is a community-driven process by BIO community members, through which community members can help decide which emerging scientific organizations are worthy of funding support and ecological resources.
Curation Process
Application Submission: New BioDAO applies to join the BIO ecosystem. The applying BioDAO must have a clear scientific research direction and preliminary governance structure to ensure it can effectively promote its research goals.
Voting Support: BIO token holders can choose to lock their BIO tokens and gain voting rights (vBIO). vBIO holders use these voting rights to vote on candidate BioDAOs to decide whether to support their entry into the ecosystem.
Curation Rewards: If the application of a BioDAO is successful, vBIO holders who voted to support that BioDAO can receive the following rewards:
Voting supporters will have the opportunity to participate in the whitelist funding of that BioDAO, with priority to invest in that BioDAO's tokens.
Supporters will receive priority access or discounts for products, data, or services offered by that BioDAO.
Joining the Ecosystem: BioDAOs that successfully pass the curation process will receive initial funding and support from BIO Protocol while being incorporated into the BIO ecosystem. BIO Protocol will continue to provide them with funding, liquidity, and governance support.
3.Reward Mechanism
Bio/Acc rewards are provided in the form of BIO tokens, including the following scenarios:
Initial token auctions conducted through the BIO launchpad
Research funding, that is, the issuance of IP tokens
Sale of consumer products related to IP
Products entering the clinical trial phase
At the same time, rewards can also flow directly to users of BioDAO products:
Participating in clinical trials or self-reporting health data
Using / purchasing products, such as Follistatin, Vitarna, electronic implants, etc.
4.ip-token
BioDAOs develop and hold ownership of IP tokens. Each BioDAO typically holds a combination of IP tokens related to its specific scientific research field. For example, VitaDAO develops and owns IPTs for VitaRNA and VITA-FAST.
How IP Tokens Work: In addition to potential profit-sharing rights, when obtaining IPTs, IPT holders can benefit from the following aspects:
Governance Rights: Participation in key decisions related to the development, management, and licensing of intellectual property.
Priority Access: Priority or preferential access to innovations, collaborations, or future opportunities related to the intellectual property.
2.2.3 Why We Invest in BIO
There has always been no solution to balance security, transparency, and incentives in the field of scientific research. BIO has built the largest DeSci platform available today, ensuring safety and transparency while financializing scientific research that has great financial value, commercializing the value created by users through countless community-filtered BIO subnets (e.g., vitaDAO) and returning profits to users. Therefore, $BIO will continuously capture the value created by all DeSci subnets, making it the most valuable token in the DeSci field. In the long run, the demand for health and longevity will continue to increase, and BIO greatly lowers the participation and usage threshold in related fields, making it a project worth long-term investment.
The product has undergone a long accumulation and iteration process, with star projects like vitaDAO emerging in the ecosystem, proving that the operational model of the product is feasible and that there is demand from capital and academia for the product. At the same time, the founding team has strong experience in scientific research and the web3 field; James is the founder of orangeDAO and participated as a founder in YC19W; Paul is the founder of vitaDAO and molecule, and the team has top-tier influence in the DeSci field.
3. More than DeSci
The imaginative space that DeSci brings to the industry is certainly not limited to conducting research or drug discovery. As previously discussed, if we confine the scope of DeSci to science alone, the value and scalability of this track will be greatly restricted. If we incorporate the concept of knowledge co-creation here, note that this knowledge can be data from any field, dimension, or size, then the construction of DeSci is more like constructing a large dynamic database.
How does DeSci + AI work?
Furthermore, DeSci should fragment knowledge. Rather than saying DeSci builds a decentralized research platform, it is more accurate to say that DeSci is creating a system where everyone has the opportunity to participate in knowledge co-creation. This approach naturally complements the community attributes of web3. In the DeSci ecosystem, different fields of data organizations will be promoted, such as Gym DAO gathering people interested in fitness or having some related knowledge, Longivity DAO gathering people interested in biomedicine, and even bounty task DAOs. For example, a navigation model needs traffic flow and terrain data from different streets in a region. This is not very systematic data, but it is indeed data that retail investors can collect. The users participating in this may be experts or enthusiasts in the field, and under the support of DeSci, any knowledge contributed has the opportunity to be continuously enriched by other contributors, and DeSci also allows every participant's contributed data to generate value and receive sustained profit-sharing.
The biggest charm here is that each person's knowledge and data is definitely limited, but it is undeniable that these data have value to varying degrees; any conduct of research needs to start accumulating from the most basic knowledge. If fragmented data can be collected through community co-creation to form a large-scale dataset, it will create a chemical reaction of 1 + 1 > 2.
If we really want to establish this web3-based knowledge base, the primary task is to build a community and enhance the user base to generate a viral effect. Even onboarding researchers during the cold start phase is secondary. This is different from most DeSci approaches, but I believe this way is more crypto-native. The motivation for retail investors to participate and hold tokens is to contribute data to join data organizations through staking to earn incentives or staking income. The more valuable the contributed data, the more frequently it will be cited or associated, and therefore more valuable data will lead to corresponding data organizations gaining more external income and native incentives. Thus, this mechanism encourages user participation while also enhancing data quality.
However, in such a large system, there will certainly be users who contribute little or are just filling a gap, but the generation of this garbage data does not affect the operation of the system; these users will also be allowed to provide data, thus participating in staking to earn some low-tier community incentives.