How much longer can the wind blow? A review of the popular tokens in the DeSci track

Author: shaofaye123, Foresight News

From zoos to artists to AI, the wind of hype has finally reached DeSci. As an unproven track, DeSci's tokens have taken off first. What exactly is DeSci, and which novel angle tokens are worth paying attention to?

What is DeSci?

DeSci stands for Decentralized Science. According to the Ethereum Foundation's definition, "DeSci is a movement to build equitable public infrastructure in the field of scientific research using the Web3 stack to fund, create, review, validate, store, and disseminate scientific knowledge."

The goal of DeSci is to leverage the advantages of blockchain technology to address challenges in traditional scientific research, such as difficulties in fundraising, insufficient data sharing, and low research transparency, thereby accelerating scientific discovery and innovation. Current projects mainly focus on solving funding issues, with most centered on the biotechnology sector. According to Messari Research's analysis of the DeSci track, it is primarily categorized into: funding, research, data, peer review, publishing, infrastructure and services, art, open science ecology, and community.

The explosive popularity of DeSci in the Memecoin space can be traced back to last December when the DeSci narrative gained attention due to mentions by CZ and the founding of ResearchHub by the Coinbase founder. Recently, Vitalik Buterin has brought it up again, Binance invested in BIO, and on-chain sentiment has surged, leading to a series of rapid developments in DeSci.

Token Overview

RIF

RIF comes from the Pump.science platform and represents the compound Rifampicin (RIF). Pump Science is a meme launch platform introduced by the Solana ecosystem's DeSci platform Molecule DAO, which can be understood as a token-based lifespan extension experimental prediction game. Currently, the platform only has two tokens: RIF and URO.

RIF is traditionally known as Rifampin, belonging to the class of rifamycin antibiotics. It is primarily used to treat various types of infections caused by multiple bacteria. It treats infections by inhibiting bacterial RNA synthesis and is one of the main drugs for treating tuberculosis, usually used in combination with other anti-tuberculosis medications. However, Rifampin has less impact on non-bacterial issues (such as aging or mitochondrial dysfunction). In a previous round of trials, the antibiotic RIF extended the lifespan of worms by 32.87%.

Current market cap: 181.6 M, with over 20,000 holding addresses.

URO

URO also comes from the Pump.science platform and represents the compound Urolithin. In the previous round of trials, it extended lifespan by 6.35%. Its potential effects include promoting autophagy and improving mitochondrial function, which are crucial for cellular health and anti-aging. By enhancing cellular repair and clearing damaged cellular components, Urolithin A may positively impact the long-term survival of cells. Theoretically, if aging or cellular damage in organisms can be repaired through this mechanism, it could potentially extend the lifespan of the organism, holding significant importance in delaying aging or improving health status.

Current market cap: 63 M, with over 10,000 holding addresses.

SCIHUB

SCI-HUB belongs to the concept of scientific donation. SCI-HUB is a platform that allows free access to query and download papers. It is currently controversial; supporters argue that it provides scholars and students worldwide with free access to papers, breaking the monopoly of scientific publishers and representing decentralized science. Critics, however, claim that SCI-HUB is a piracy site that uses various methods to bypass publishers' paywalls, providing millions of academic papers and works without regard for copyright issues, raising compliance concerns regarding piracy.

This token is not officially issued; the top holder 0xAA purchased 22% of SCI-HUB tokens. It has been announced that 20% will be donated to the SCI-HUB Foundation, leading to a surge. The market cap peaked at 70 M, currently at 52 M.

VITA

VITA belongs to DeSci DAO, primarily focusing on longevity research and fundraising, with over 5 million dollars raised. The main area is concentrated in Europe, supported by Molecule. It establishes a portfolio of intellectual property and data assets, which are made public and tokenized through data markets or traditional biopharmaceutical licensing and commercialization processes. The goal of VitaDAO is to: shorten the lifecycle of funding decisions quickly; attract world-leading researchers by promoting open science principles; and democratize ownership.

Current market cap: 153 M, deployed on Ethereum.

RSC

RSC is the native token of the ResearchHub platform, founded by Coinbase's Brian Armstrong. It is primarily used to incentivize users to publish high-quality content (new papers, reviews, peer reviews, and paper highlights) on the platform.

Current market cap: 90 M, with 6193 holding addresses.

ATH

AthenaDAO is focused on women's reproductive health. Currently, it covers four main research areas: ovarian aging and reproductive longevity; polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis; gynecological cancers; and reproductive technologies.

Current market cap: 8.2 M, with 822 holding addresses.

GROW

ValleyDAO belongs to the field of synthetic biology for ecological climate protection. Holders of the GROW token can participate in the decision-making process, influencing which synthetic biology projects receive funding and how the resulting intellectual property is licensed and commercialized.

Current market cap: 8 M, with 669 holding addresses.

HAIR

HairDAO is part of the DeSci movement initiated by BioDAO, dedicated to funding early-stage hair loss research, and has already obtained relevant patents. Through early financing, new hair loss treatment methods can be brought to market. This project was launched in November 2021 and is one of the first members of bio.xyz.

Current market cap: 59.6 M, with 345 holding addresses.

The favorable winds of the DeSci narrative have not truly arrived yet, as tokens have taken off first. After the hype, the road to decentralized science still has a long way to go.