How does AxonDAO reshape digital healthcare in conjunction with DePIN?

Author: Web3 Xiaolu

In the digital economy society, our data is ubiquitous and contains immense value, which is beyond doubt. However, often these individual data points are aggregated into the hands of leading institutions, bringing them significant commercial value.

Now, with the continuous maturation of biometric, blockchain, and AI technologies, as well as the ongoing implementation of the Web3 value internet business model, this situation is undergoing a transformation. We can retain and control individual data in unprecedented ways and participate in and create the value of this data collaboratively, ultimately benefiting individuals and promoting social development.

In this context, DeSci can solve many problems. For example, in the field of digital healthcare, individuals can contribute their voice data to participate in and promote research on early screening for dementia (Alzheimer's disease).

This article will look at AxonDAO, an early DeSci project, from the perspective of how AxonDAO utilizes biometric, blockchain, and AI technologies, combined with DePIN, to reshape digital healthcare and promote citizen science.

1. About AxonDAO

The patterns of nature are deeply rooted within each of us. We draw on these patterns, represented as discrete data elements, to expand our understanding of ourselves and the universe in which we exist------AxonDAO

1.1 AxonDAO's Web3 Transformation

AxonDAO was initiated by Axon, a company with decades of experience in the informatization and digitalization of healthcare systems, aiming to reconstruct the way humans interact with their health data using blockchain and artificial intelligence.

AxonDAO collects healthcare data through DePIN and utilizes specific AI precognitive algorithms formed from inputs such as biometric, genomic data, and other key health indicators to standardize, tokenize, and protocolize this data for application in backend research, new drugs, therapies, and medical services. AxonDAO can not only monitor individual data itself but also predict individuals' future health conditions.

Founded in 2014, Axon is a digital healthcare startup. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Axon closely collaborated with clinical data companies to remotely connect their research and practices, helping the beleaguered healthcare system through difficult times. After discovering the immense potential of Web3 in 2021, Axon transformed into AxonDAO, innovatively combining traditional healthcare business models with Web3 token economic models to provide solutions for the still-improving healthcare industry while ensuring transparency through decentralized governance and enhancing public participation.

1.2 AxonDAO's Vision and Mission

AxonDAO envisions building a future where medical research interacts in real-time with individual health data, directly connecting universally generated individual health data with medical scientific research and standardizing it. All data is centered around individuals, ensuring data security, anonymity, individual ownership, compliance with scientific assessment standards, and convenient access to medical scientific research.

Through DeSci, AxonDAO not only records data contributions but also incentivizes data contributors, especially those from early participants, revealing the true potential value behind this data to everyone, allowing the general public to become early participants in citizen science projects and driving breakthroughs in innovative therapies and medical research through the enduring power of blockchain.

AxonDAO's mission is to democratize medical science through decentralization, replacing the monopoly of large pharmaceutical companies with a community that shares common goals and spirit. The purpose of establishing AxonDAO is not only to promote decentralized science but also to fundamentally change and redefine science.

($AXGTToken - #DeSci#DePINPower House for Healthcare)

2. How AxonDAO Plans to Do It

Ten years from now, when researchers desire to understand if a specific segment of the population is susceptible to a disease or medicine, due to distinct geographic, biometric, or genomic characteristics, they pay a 'gas fee' to you if your (anonymous) data fits their criteria------AxonDAO

As a veteran deeply engaged in the digital healthcare industry, AxonDAO is well aware of the pain points in this sector and attempts to transform it through DeSci.

2.1 Innovative Project Funding Mechanism

AxonDAO has built a transparent and democratic project funding mechanism using the power of blockchain to help early medical science projects secure funding and enhance medical scientific discovery capabilities. This is the biggest pain point hindering research for those obscure researchers.

AxonDAO launched community round financing in December 2023 and January 2024, issuing its governance token AXGT. This governance token allows token holders to provide funding and participate in governance, guiding and shaping community project funding proposals.

Since the community is still in its early stages, Axon, as the initiator of AxonDAO, has temporarily launched three digital healthcare projects to promote the development of AxonDAO.

(AxonDAO White Paper)

2.2 Strategic Collaboration to Build the AxonDAO Ecosystem

The essence of DeSci is collaboration. Over the past few years, AxonDAO has been working hard to build its ecosystem.

Internally, AxonDAO aims to break down traditional silos in scientific research, enabling researchers to share data, resources, and research results with unprecedented ease and security. At the same time, AxonDAO utilizes decentralized networks to create a space where scientists, scholars, and innovators can collaborate globally without geographical restrictions or institutional barriers, accelerating the pace of scientific discovery and innovation.

AxonDAO is also actively participating in various social media platforms to share cutting-edge DeSci knowledge and solve problems through transparent communication and democratic processes within the DAO.

Externally, AxonDAO not only accumulates resources and adds value horizontally for the DeSci and digital healthcare ecosystem but also promotes collaborative efforts across different disciplines and specialties vertically.

For instance, AxonDAO received funding from the Polygon DeSci Grant in 2022 and participated in the Polygon DeSci Vendor Programs; in 2023, it received funding from DeSci in Gitcoin's Beta Round; and in 2023, it participated in the NVIDIA Inception Program.

The NVIDIA Inception Program aims to help startups grow faster through cutting-edge technology, opportunities to connect with venture capitalists, and access to NVIDIA's latest technological resources. In this program, AxonDAO will leverage NVIDIA AI capabilities to capture the value of healthcare data.

(X: @AxonDAO)

2.3 Technological Empowerment

By developing and implementing scalable blockchain infrastructure (such as solutions utilizing zK technology) to ensure individual data ownership and HIPAA security issues, ensuring data accuracy and privacy, and providing incentives for data contributors;

Building advanced data analytics and secure data-sharing protocols to facilitate the convenient transformation of raw data into usable data, connecting in real-time with backend research, new drugs, therapies, and medical services to generate immediate value;

Developing a set of citizen science protocols and a user-friendly interface that allows individuals to participate in cutting-edge medical research in unprecedented ways;

Constructing a decentralized research platform for AxonDAO, providing an on-chain solution for the collection, storage, and verification of clinical data through blockchain technology. This approach ensures the security and transparency of data processing while establishing universal standards for individual medical health information, facilitating easier access and control of personal healthcare data.

2.4 Future Roadmap

Currently, AxonDAO is still in the community formation stage, with future roadmap plans including: building a core team (Working Group); establishing industry vertical and horizontal ecosystem partnerships; participating in and supporting DeSci Summit; launching incubated projects like DePIN, Voice A+ System for Citizen Science, PSYLOSYS Data Collection Solution, ULTRA+V Data Collection Solution; and launching DeSci Marketplace.

(X: @AxonDAO)

We can see that based on the informatization of healthcare, AxonDAO can not only achieve decentralized project funding and discovery but also delve into the details of the digital healthcare industry to implement real-time solutions, reshaping the industry chain through blockchain Web3.

By combining strong collaboration, transparent practices, community-driven governance, and a growing, vibrant community, AxonDAO not only envisions a new era in healthcare but is actively realizing it.

3. AI, DePIN for DeSci

Through its prior accumulation in the healthcare industry and resource sedimentation, Axon has initiated several digital healthcare projects after transforming into AxonDAO to promote its implementation. In these projects, solutions such as AI and DePIN are utilized.

For example, Voice A+------Precognitive Voice Analysis is a project that tracks voice data to screen and assess diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, dementia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and Huntington's disease. The project can also monitor fatigue and energy levels, especially in commercial truck and car drivers and other heavy equipment operators. The Voice A+ model can also extend to anxiety and stress, as well as emotional fluctuation detection.

In the Voice A+ project, data from project participants can be obtained through the DePIN model, with incentives provided. After collecting, organizing, and processing the raw data, AI neural networks are constructed with the help of NVIDIA's capabilities, ultimately producing standardized, valuable data for research, clinical, and commercialization.

(X: @AxonDAO)

DeSci projects are inherently digital and global, so the business model of digital healthcare projects like AxonDAO—utilizing the DePIN model to incentivize user data nodes, providing data productivity through AI, while incentivizing the entire ecosystem through Web3 token economics and decentralized governance through DAO—can help projects gain significant network utility from the outset, creating a flywheel effect.

Especially for individual health monitoring, status scale filling, and early screening tests in psychological, mental, neurological diseases, and chronic diseases, projects that can conveniently and frequently collect data using lightweight digital media such as mobile phones are naturally suited to utilize the DePIN model. This may become the primary business model for future DeSci digital healthcare projects or biotech projects.

4. AxonDAO's Token Economy

AxonDAO claims to adopt a "dual-token model," which includes the governance token AXGT and the security token AXDT (Security Token).

The governance token AXGT includes the usual governance, voting, and proposal rights, as well as some rights related to medical research derived from the specificity of DeSci, reflecting the overall value of the AxonDAO ecosystem.

The adoption of the security token AXDT is not the conventional "dual-token model" (like the dual-token model in GameFi); AXDT is a type of ownership/equity certificate based on the U.S. DAO LLC Act, reflecting the future profit distribution and valuation of AxonDAO LLC.

4.1 Governance Token------AXGT

AxonDAO launched community round financing in December 2023 and January 2024, issuing its governance token AXGT. On February 13, 2024, AXGT will conduct an IDO on Uniswap.

A total of 1 billion AXGT tokens will be issued, of which:

• 20% is used for community financing before the IDO;
• 4% is granted to early founding members of AxonDAO, including 2% OG Advisors, 1% CORE, 1% (DEX, buybacks), with a linear unlock over 12 to 36 months;
• 6% is granted to the Working Group, with a linear unlock over 12+ months;
• 3% is used to create liquidity for the ETH-AXGT pair on Uniswap;
• The remaining portion is pending unlock.

(AxonDAO White Paper)

The utility of the AXGT token:

A. Community access; B. Governance voting; C. Proposal submission, allowing projects to be submitted to AxonDAO for funding votes; D. Supporting scientific research, with 4% of transaction fees from each trade and sale of AXGT used to support DeSci projects, eliminating the need for intermediaries or other institutions; E. Incentive exchange for data value------AXGT, which can be converted to ETH and BTC; it can also convert individual intellectual property (IP) into AXGT through AxonDAO's DeSci application; F. Donations: thanking preferred scientists; G. Discounts on goods, including discounts on cutting-edge scientific tools, equipment, products, and services recognized by the AxonDAO platform; H. Customized services for scientists; I. NFTs; J. Other pending rights.

4.2 Security Token------AXDT (AxonDAO Treasury)

AXDT represents ownership of AxonDAO LLC, i.e., equity, reflecting the value of future profit distribution and valuation of AxonDAO LLC, and can only be purchased by accredited investors or institutional entities under U.S. securities law Reg D 506 (c).

Interestingly, AxonDAO LLC is established as an LLC under the Wyoming DAO Act in the U.S. This organizational structure established through state law can navigate the complexities of U.S. securities law while embodying the spirit of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) within the framework of limited liability companies (DAO LLCs).

The distribution of AXDT is as follows:

• 65% AxonDAO Treasury;
• 20% AxonDAO members - partners;
• 10% AxonDAO core members, advisors, contributors;
• 5% reserved.

(AxonDAO White Paper)

5. Opportunities and Challenges

5.1 Opportunity------Leading the Launch of DeSci in North America

We can see that DeSci is thriving in Europe, especially with Molecule leading many specific field DAOs, such as VitaDAO, which focuses on longevity research and drug discovery (backed by traditional pharmaceutical giant Pfizer), ValleyDAO, which targets synthetic biology and climate change, HairDAO, which addresses hair loss issues, and AthenaDAO, which focuses on women's health.

As a major player in North America, AxonDAO may be able to drive the development of the North American DeSci community and play a leading role.

5.2 Opportunity------Not Just a Project Fundraising and Incubation Platform

We can see the shadow of Molecule, a leading DeSci project fundraising incubation platform in Europe, in AxonDAO (for more on Molecule and Vitadao, refer to "DeSci: Exploring the Business Models and Feasible Paths for Biotech Projects Entering Web3").

In addition to fundraising and incubation, we also see AxonDAO preparing to build data standardization protocols, AI precognitive algorithms, data asset trading platforms, and real-time collaboration between data and research based on its rich experience in digital healthcare and senior industry resources. If these visions can be realized, it will reshape the digital healthcare industry, especially for medical services and drugs that need to be developed based on vast amounts of healthcare data, such as digital therapies related to psychological, mental, and neurological issues.

5.3 Opportunity------AI, DePIN for DeSci

As mentioned earlier, DeSci projects are inherently digital and global, so the business model of digital healthcare projects like AxonDAO—utilizing the DePIN model to incentivize user data nodes, providing data productivity through AI, while incentivizing the entire ecosystem through Web3 token economics and decentralized governance through DAO—can help projects gain significant network utility from the outset, creating a flywheel effect.

Especially for individual health monitoring, status scale filling, and early screening tests in psychological, mental, neurological diseases, and chronic diseases, projects that can conveniently and frequently collect data using lightweight digital media such as mobile phones are naturally suited to utilize the DePIN model. This may become the primary business model for future DeSci digital healthcare projects or biotech projects.

(X: @AxonDAO)

5.4 Challenge------Uncertainty of Early Projects

We can see that the project completed community round financing only in December 2023 and has not yet secured external funding from VCs. Currently, the project is still driven by Axon, and the DAO is still in the community-building stage. For the vast digital healthcare DeSci market, where AxonDAO can go remains uncertain.

5.5 Challenge------Regulatory Compliance of DePIN Healthcare Data

First, each jurisdiction has its own cybersecurity and data protection laws (such as the EU's GDPR, U.S. data privacy protection laws, China's data security laws, etc.) that impose specific regulations on data collection, processing, transmission, especially regarding cross-border data transfers.

Therefore, although Web3 is global, the collection and transmission of DePIN healthcare data are still subject to strict local jurisdictional regulations.

Secondly, data involving humans, especially sensitive data such as medical and genetic data, is subject to stricter regulations. Previously, Stepn cut off part of its users in mainland China due to issues related to the cross-border transmission of geographic marker data. Recently, the Ministry of National Security issued a statement indicating that some foreign mapping companies have lured domestic personnel to purchase and use specialized equipment for "checking in" on maps in exchange for virtual currency rewards, illegally collecting sensitive geographic spatial information data and uploading it in real-time to overseas servers, which constitutes illegal collection and theft of geographic spatial data.

5.6 Challenge------What is the Value of Data?

One dimension is the value of the data itself. For a business model like Voice A+, which is entirely data-driven, is the voice data generated through mobile devices valuable? Or is it only valuable when the quantity is large? How to price the data generated under this model is a question the project needs to consider. Or does the data only become valuable when it rises to the level of genetic data?

Another dimension is the value of data usage after AI production, which needs to be combined with backend research, new drugs, therapies, and medical services.

What is the value of data? This is a question that all DeSci projects need to answer.

6. In Conclusion

Recently, our DeSci China community has been conducting research on some projects, and we thank Daqi for sharing information about AxonDAO, allowing us to see AxonDAO's leap of 10x after its IDO launch.

Looking back, it was unlikely for us to participate in an excellent traditional digital healthcare or life science technology company at such an early stage; those seats are reserved for pharmaceutical companies and VCs. However, this can be achieved in Web3, and you can become a part of the organization; you can also be a part of citizen science, where everyone is a scientist!

We can see AxonDAO's practice and vision and look forward to the project's further performance.

The implementation of DeSci in digital healthcare holds great promise for the future.