Want to live forever if you have money? What is the recently popular DeSci?

Author: WOO X Research

Background: Celebrity Endorsement Effect, Focus on Vitalik + CZ

Decentralized Science (DeSci) is not a new concept. As early as March last year, the research institution Messrai published a related report. Recently, this sector has regained market attention, largely due to Binance's investment in BIO Protocol.

On November 8, Binance completed a strategic financing round for BIO Protocol, with details on the round and amount undisclosed. Thanks to Binance's investment, the BIO Genesis community fundraising initiative launched by BIO Protocol quickly reached its funding cap, raising a total of $33 million. CZ tweeted about participating in a DeSci gathering for small entrepreneurs, where Vitalik was also present.

With Binance's substantial investment and the endorsement of two major figures in the crypto space, what exactly is DeSci? Which projects within it are worth our attention? Let's take a look with WOO X Research.

Source: @bioprotocol

What is DeSci?

DeSci stands for Decentralized Science, aimed at addressing various issues encountered in scientific research, including opaque funding allocation, knowledge monopolies, and the openness of research data.

Here are the main features and core concepts of DeSci:

1. Decentralized Fundraising: Traditional research funding usually comes from governments, academic institutions, or large corporations, which may be influenced by political or commercial interests. Additionally, funding applications can be time-consuming, and insufficient funding for research projects is common. In DeSci, researchers can directly raise funds from the community via DAOs on the blockchain, using cryptocurrencies or issuing tokens for research projects, allowing more people to participate and support innovative research.
2. Open Data and Knowledge Sharing: DeSci encourages storing research data and results on the blockchain in an open manner, ensuring transparency and immutability of data, thus addressing the current issue of data closure in academia. Researchers can also track citations and usage of their research through blockchain technology, ensuring fair distribution of knowledge.
3. Incentive Mechanisms: DeSci typically uses tokens or other blockchain tools as incentives, allowing participants (such as researchers, reviewers, data providers, etc.) to receive rewards within the system. For example, researchers can earn token rewards when publishing papers or sharing data, encouraging more people to share scientific results.
4. Improved Peer Review Mechanism: Traditional academic journals and peer review processes may suffer from inefficiencies, biases, or high costs. DeSci utilizes smart contracts and distributed review systems to achieve a more transparent and efficient review process, ensuring fair compensation for reviewers.
5. NFTs and Intellectual Property: In DeSci, research results can be minted as NFTs to track and manage intellectual property. For instance, a groundbreaking research result can be recorded on the blockchain as an NFT, ensuring ownership and revenue for the original author.

The core point of DeSci is that blockchain projects often have funding in advance, while application development is usually disconnected from the funds raised, leading to situations of excess funding and overvaluation. In contrast, scientific research faces high difficulties in fundraising and often takes time to see results, with low speculative elements.

DeSci aims to channel hot money from the crypto space into scientific research, with the narrative that blockchain can genuinely assist research projects and benefit society, thus opening up imaginative space for the valuation ceiling of this sector.

Source: @_kaitoai

Representative Projects

VITA: The BIO Protocol mentioned earlier is created by one of the founders of VitaDAO. Currently, the token VITA is considered the most legitimate DeSci project. VitaDAO was established in 2021, focusing on funding and promoting early longevity science research aimed at extending human healthspan. As mentioned earlier, Vitalik and CZ participated in the DeSci gathering, where Vitalik showcased VitaDAO's first longevity product—VD001, a natural high-dose spermidine supplement approved by the Thai FDA.

Not only backed by crypto celebrities, but VitaDAO also secured $4.1 million in funding on January 30, 2023, from Pfizer's venture capital arm, Shine Capital, L1 Digital, and Balaji Srinivasan, among others. Notably, this is Pfizer's first investment in the Web 3 space.

• Blockchain: ETH
• Current Token Price: 6.2
• Current Market Cap: $160 million
• Number of Holding Addresses: 4,076
• Historical Market Cap High: Currently ATH, $160 million

$RIF: A meme coin launched by Pump.Science, which is a meme coin issuance platform under Molecule DAO, a subsidiary of BIO Protocol, introduced at the Token2049 Solana Breakpoint conference. However, unlike Pump Fun, where anyone can issue a coin, projects on Pump.Science must be linked to scientific research.

Currently, the only meme coins recognized by Pump.Science are RIF and URO, with RIF representing the antibiotic "Rifampicin," which primarily inhibits bacterial RNA synthesis and has significant bactericidal effects, treating conditions including tuberculosis, leprosy, trachoma, and veterans' disease.

Rifampicin has been shown to activate the body's natural defense mechanisms against stress and damage. Current experiments on worms have shown effects of extending lifespan and improving health status. Although research is still in its early stages, it remains unclear whether Rifampicin can produce similar effects in humans, but it represents an exciting research direction in anti-aging therapies.

• Blockchain: Solana
• Current Token Price: 0.1705
• Current Market Cap: $170 million
• Number of Holding Addresses: 20,146
• Historical Market Cap High: $183 million

Source: Dexscreener

$URO: Another meme coin launched by Pump.Science, it is one of the two officially certified tokens by Pump.Science alongside $RIF.

Urolithin A is a compound naturally found in pomegranates. Its uniqueness lies in its ability to perform "housekeeping" for cells. It helps clear out aging and dysfunctional mitochondria, allowing fresh and healthy mitochondria to thrive. It can be thought of as a reset button for cells, helping them maintain optimal functioning.

• Blockchain: Solana
• Current Token Price: 0.0466
• Current Market Cap: $46.6 million
• Number of Holding Addresses: 12,674
• Historical Market Cap High: $60 million

Source: Dexscreener

SCIHUB: An open-source academic paper library founded by neuroscientist Alexandra Elbakyan in 2011, aimed at providing free access to academic papers for everyone, but it has also raised copyright concerns. In 2017, Scihub was ordered by publishers to pay $15 million in damages to Elsevier. The founder of WTF Academy, 0xAA, purchased 22% of the total supply of SCIHUB tokens and later transferred 20% to Alexandra Elbakyan's wallet, showing support for Scihub.

• Blockchain: Solana
• Current Token Price: 0.0486
• Current Market Cap: $49 million
• Number of Holding Addresses: 13,842
• Historical Market Cap High: $73 million

Source: @SciHubFans

Conclusion: Can DeSci Really Bring Practical Applications?

The main narrative of DeSci is the channeling of hot money from the crypto space into the research community, suggesting that cryptocurrencies can play a role in improving the world. However, DeSci is not a new concept that emerged this year; VitaDAO was established as early as 2021, and even the well-known pharmaceutical company Pfizer participated in its investment. Yet, it has historically developed slowly and has not attracted much market attention until Binance's investment and the participation of CZ and Vitalik brought it back into the public eye, with speculative elements still outweighing practical applications.

As mentioned earlier, scientific research often requires significant funding and time, making it difficult to see immediate results after receiving funds. The DeSci tokens driven by memes are fundamentally similar to previous meme coins, both representing manifestations of attention economics. For the crypto market, which demands immediate returns, the sustainability of DeSci remains highly questionable.

For the overall sector to have continuity, it must meet the following conditions:

• Continued Celebrity Endorsement: This narrative was initiated by crypto celebrities CZ and Vitalik. Attracting more figures from the crypto space will help solidify the narrative foundation of DeSci and draw in more capital and users.
• Sustained Fundraising Activities: More fundraising cases are needed in the future to demonstrate investment institutions' interest in the DeSci sector. Institutional involvement in building the sector's ecosystem is essential to stabilize the overall fundamentals of DeSci.
• Rising Valuations of Leading Projects: Currently, the leading projects VITA and RIF have market caps ranging from $150 million to $200 million, which is still low compared to many leading projects in other sectors. If the leading projects can raise their market caps to the $5 billion range and get listed on mainstream centralized exchanges, it could drive up other projects and confirm the growth potential of the DeSci sector.