A Brief History of BIO:
BIO was initiated by VitaDAO/Molecule in July 2021
In August 2021, VitaDAO collaborated with the University of Copenhagen to fund an on-chain scientific project, which is the BIO Protocol.
‘BIO is a protocol for decentralized science (DeSci). Our mission is to enable the global community of patients, scientists, and biotechnology professionals to co-fund, build, and own tokenized biotechnology projects and intellectual property (IP), accelerating the advancement of biotechnology.’
The team behind BIO also worked on Molecule and VitaDAO (the largest decentralized community for longevity science).
November 2024
Binance Labs made its first DeSci investment in the BIO Protocol
Binance Labs invested in the BIO Protocol, a groundbreaking protocol that uses blockchain technology to change the way early scientific research is funded and commercialized. This investment marks Binance Labs' first foray into the field of decentralized science (DeSci).
BIO can be seen as the Y Combinator for on-chain science. The platform enables a global community of scientists, patients, and investors to co-fund, develop, and jointly own new drugs and therapies through its decentralized autonomous organization (BioDAO) network. The protocol's innovative approach addresses key gaps in traditional scientific funding, particularly in areas like rare diseases, longevity research, and emerging health challenges.
Currently, the $BIO network consists of seven BioDAOs focused on different areas such as cryopreservation, women's health, and psychedelic mental health. The next batch of projects under the protocol includes accelerating treatments for long COVID and rare diseases, as well as developing quantum microscopes for observing quantum biological phenomena to further expand the reach and impact of community-driven science.
This new funding will drive the expansion of the BioDAO ecosystem, provide seed funding for new BioDAOs, and strengthen the network of service providers, offering them community and token economics support. This will help realize the vision of BIO, which is to create autonomous scientific funding and acceleration infrastructure driven by artificial intelligence, drug design, and open-source computational biology.
‘The BIO Protocol represents a significant step forward in DeSci by combining biotechnology with DeFi. At Binance Labs, we are committed to unlocking breakthrough advancements by supporting projects that build meaningful technologies, driving long-term real-world impact. In the same month, BIO Genesis reportedly raised over $33 million.
How the narrative of the BIO Protocol is told:
1. The current system is not conducive to curing diseases
In 2018, Goldman Sachs published a report titled 'The Genomic Revolution,' questioning whether curing patients is a sustainable business model. They cited Gilead Sciences, which generated $12.5 billion in revenue in 2015 due to its effective hepatitis C treatment. However, as more patients were cured, sales sharply declined to $4 billion in subsequent years.
Using opioids for pain management and other chronic disease treatments can ensure regular income, but it often leads patients to become dependent on medication rather than addressing the underlying issues. The addictive nature of these drugs has also led to widespread abuse and dependency. Moreover, deaths related to opioids, particularly those caused by prescription opioids, have become a significant public health issue in the United States.
2. Scientists focus their energy on fundraising rather than research
BIO is an engine that provides launch and acceleration for on-chain scientific communities (BioDAOs), composed of scientists, patients, and investors. BioDAOs focus on specific scientific fields or diseases, developing on-chain intellectual property related to research, drugs, products, etc.
The BIO Protocol team has built the first batch of BioDAOs across multiple scientific fields. BIO aims to assist scientists, patients, and biotech founders in the establishment process of on-chain scientific communities, including tokenomics design, community building, funding, and liquidity support.
This means that current pharmaceutical companies choose to sell inefficient drugs for sustained profits, while some scientists focus their energy on fundraising. BIO created an incubator DAO across multiple scientific fields.
Overall, BIO is an incubator focused on DeSci projects, with its own token, BIO.
The team behind it also created a DeSci meme launcher called Molecule, which received a grant from the Solana Foundation. The founders have a background in Consensys, which can be understood as the executive body of Ethereum.
The history of BIO has been written, and it does not constitute investment advice.