Founders

Paul Kohlhaas, a veteran in the crypto space, has been deeply engaged in the DeSci field. Molecule and VitaDAO, introduced later, are companies he is associated with.

Investors

Binance Labs, Zee Prime Capital, Kosmos Ventures, Panga Capital, etc. Pfizer Ventures and Balaji Srinivasan supported one of BIO Protocol's research institutes, VitaDAO.

Operating Model

The model of the BIO Protocol can be simply described as issuing the research institute token BIO within the BIO Protocol research institute (similar to the Chinese Academy of Sciences). Users stake BIO to obtain governance rights and then vote to decide whether the proposed research institutes (like the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences) can be established. These research institutes focus on specific areas of research, exemplified by VitaDAO. VitaDAO specializes in funding early preclinical drug development in the context of longevity, issuing its own research institute token VITA. Users stake VITA to gain governance rights and then vote on whether to inject startup funding (in fiat currency) into a proposed project. Once funding is injected, VitaDAO directly holds the intellectual property (IP) of its supported projects in the form of IP-NFTs (using the biopharmaceutical IP NFT framework developed by Molecule). VitaDAO also tokenizes the NFTs into IPTs for easier trading. Users who purchase IPTs can obtain shares of the intellectual property of the project's outcomes, but there is no guarantee of profit.

Token Empowerment

The BIO token of the BIO Protocol has multiple empowerments. Firstly, BIO token holders can participate in the governance and decision-making process of BioDAO, voting on the issuance of BIO, fund allocation, and protocol updates. Secondly, BIO token holders can have priority access to the institute's token sales and IPT token sales, as well as enjoy discounts on BioDAO health products/services. Additionally, BIO tokens can be used to select institutes applying to join the BIO protocol program and provide funding for specific research IP assets.

Project Income and Assets

The income of the BIO Protocol mainly comes from the sales and licensing of IP and revenue from consumer health products. This income will flow back into the network to power the next generation of biomedical research and development. The assets of the BIO Protocol include its holdings of BIO tokens, IP-NFTs, and collaborations with other DeSci projects.

Token Distribution

The total supply of the BIO Protocol's token is 3.32 billion.

  1. Team and Advisors: 10%-20%2.

  2. Community Building: 5%-10%3.

  3. Partners: 5%-15%4.

  4. Investors and the Public: 20%-30%5.

  5. Liquidity Provision: 5%-10%6.

  6. Reserves and Locking: 10%-20%

Summary: The BIO Protocol has expertise in biological research, providing standardized and peer-reviewed experimental protocols. Its decentralized fundraising and reward mechanisms are also innovative for biological research. However, for ordinary investors, there are some concerns: 1. The BIO token does not offer simple and direct profit empowerment, whether through DAO governance or priority token purchases, etc. 2. The project's profit prospects are unclear because 1) research projects do not necessarily yield results; 2) having results does not guarantee commercial value; 3) there are many funding scam projects in schools and research institutions. Although the BIO Protocol has set up expert reviews and milestone systems (funding for the next step is only available upon achieving a significant outcome), it cannot eliminate such deception. 3. From a market cap perspective, the current off-market price of BIO has reached $0.9, with a total market cap of nearly $3 billion. This is quite expensive for a startup project with no clear profit prospects. Therefore, if BIO reaches a market cap of tens of billions after listing, the cost-effectiveness of participation may not be high, and the risk of being trapped is quite high.