The forces of decentralization are now being felt in the scientific community as DeSci — decentralized science — continues to emerge. Still in its infancy, the DeSci seeks to address many of the pressing challenges facing the conventional scientific model using blockchain and the myriad other disruptive tools that define Web3 today.
In this latest insight article from OKX Ventures, we take a closer look at what DeSci is, why it exists, how the landscape is emerging, and some of the major DeSci projects defining the sector today.
TL;DR
DeSci is a hot field but still in its early stages: The DeSci sector is still in its early phase, with high asset volatility, insufficient liquidity, and an immature market. Valuation systems are still being established, and top projects like VitaDAO have not yet stabilized their valuation systems. The market is highly volatile, and the ecosystem needs more time to develop.
BioDAO is a research-driven DeFi protocol: As the ecosystem grows, BioDAO could face challenges in integrating offchain data into a blockchain-based feedback loop. Its funding mechanism is innovative, and its roadmap is clear, but there's a lack of a measurable path for converting funding into scientific results. These projects need time to form a sustainable feedback loop to attract broader trust and funding.
Meme-driven hype dominates DeSci: While DeSci has scientific backing, the current hype is largely driven by memes. For example, Sci-Hub functions more as a community symbol, with high participation but still uncertain product and user conversion. Unlike other memes, there's a desire to see more authority figures from the scientific community driving the DeSci narrative. Platforms like pump.science are still in early experimental stages and need refinement.
Products have not yet scaled: Even established projects like VitaDAO haven’t achieved significant market impact. Serious scientific research requires multiple stages of project management and rigorous data handling, which current DeSci projects cannot yet support. Many DeSci initiatives are still in proof-of-concept or small-scale experimental stages, far from commercialization.
Valuation and market potential aren’t fully realized: Leading DeSci projects have not yet reached a $1 billion market cap, and much of the market potential remains untapped. Additionally, most tokens haven’t been listed on major exchanges, and large-scale funds have yet to enter the market. With the right scientific endorsements, DeSci could break out of niche markets and see a broader narrative explosion, as many top institutions are deeply researching the space.
DeSci should leverage blockchain’s strengths: DeSci should focus on blockchain’s advantages in areas like data traceability, decentralized funding distribution (integrating with DeFi), and verifiability (for example, in academic publishing, research funding, data sharing and collaboration, and peer review). In the short term, combining these areas with complex offline scenarios is challenging.
Industry Background
The traditional research model faces many limitations and challenges, providing the backdrop for the rise of decentralized science (DeSci).Some of the key challenges in traditional research include:
Unequal resource distribution: Research funding is highly concentrated in a few top institutions and scientists, making it hard for high-risk, innovative projects or researchers from developing countries to get support.
Rigid management: Traditional research relies on centralized bodies, with opaque project evaluations often leading to corruption and monopolistic practices in academic circles.
Limited knowledge dissemination: High publishing costs and complex IP management restrict the spread of research, while accessibility and reproducibility of findings are major issues.
DeSci seeks to reform this traditional model using blockchain technology and decentralization. Its goals are to:
Break the concentration of resources and opportunities in traditional research.
Increase research accessibility and transparency.
Encourage broader community participation and collaboration.
Provide new governance and funding models for scientific work.
Though still in its early stages, DeSci offers new possibilities for addressing structural problems in traditional research systems.
DeSci Methods and Use Cases
DeSci leverages Web3 technology to solve key problems in traditional science (TradSci), enhancing scientific practice through:
DeSci changes how money is given out. It does this by using decentralized independent organizations (DAOs) and other donations. This helps different and risky research projects.
Accessibility: DeSci increases accessibility to data and publications by using blockchain-based repositories to store research in a transparent, decentralized ledger. Smart contracts ensure an equitable and secure distribution of data.
Reproducibility: DeSci incentivizes reproducibility with token rewards and reputation systems for researchers. Smart contracts also promote transparent and verifiable peer review processes, improving the reliability of scientific findings.
Use Cases of DeSci
Academic publishing: DeSci platforms offer decentralized repositories for researchers to directly publish their work, expanding access to scientific knowledge.
Research funding: DeSci enables transparent funding distribution via smart contracts, supporting crowdfunding for research projects and rewarding contributors based on work quality.
Data sharing and collaboration: DeSci platforms allow researchers to share data securely and transparently, enabling data tokenization and monetization while ensuring ownership rights.
Peer review: Blockchain-based reputation systems enhance the credibility of scientific publications. DeSci creates immutable records of researchers' contributions and peer review activities, promoting transparency and accountability in academic exchange.
In this context, DeSci, as an emerging research model, has come into being. It aims to reform the traditional scientific research framework through blockchain technology and decentralization. The emergence of DeSci aims to:
Break the concentration of resources and opportunities in the traditional research system.
Improve the accessibility and transparency of research.
Encourage broader community participation and collaboration.
Provide new governance and funding models for scientific work.
This new research model emphasizes transparency, open access, and social participation, representing a significant shift in the field of scientific research. Although DeSci is still in its early stages of development, it offers new possibilities for addressing structural problems in the traditional research system.
Feature | DeSci | TradSci |
Transparency and Trust | Uses blockchain technology to ensure record integrity and immutability | Relies on centralized institutions to verify research findings |
Accessibility and Inclusivity | Promotes open access, democratizing knowledge access | Involves subscription fees and access barriers, limiting the dissemination of research findings |
Collaboration and Innovation | Stimulates collaboration through blockchain, eliminating institutional silos | Isolated by institutional frameworks, potentially hindering collaboration |
Funding and Incentives | Uses decentralized mechanisms to incentivize contributions, rewarding based on work quality | Relies on funding bodies and institutional budgets, which may lead to inefficiencies |
Methodology
DeSci leverages Web3 technologies to address core issues in TradSci and enhance scientific practices. Below are some key methods through which DeSci improves science:
Innovating funding allocation mechanisms: DeSci promotes fair distribution of research funds through secondary donations and DAOs. This method lowers the barriers to accessing funding and supports diverse and innovative research projects.
Improving the accessibility of data and publications: DeSci uses blockchain-based research repositories to make sure that scientific data and publications are transparently stored on decentralized ledgers. This makes research results more accessible, with smart contracts managing data access for fair and secure distribution.
Incentivizing reproducibility: DeSci introduces token rewards and reputation systems to motivate researchers to conduct reproducible scientific work. Smart contracts facilitate transparent and verifiable peer review processes, enhancing the reliability of scientific discoveries.
Use Cases
Academic Publishing: DeSci platforms provide decentralized repositories that allow researchers to directly publish their work, thereby expanding access to scientific knowledge.
Research Funding: Decentralized funding mechanisms use smart contracts to promote transparent fund distribution, support crowdfunding for research projects, and reward contributors based on the quality of their work.
Data Sharing and Collaboration: DeSci platforms facilitate secure and transparent data sharing among scientists, helping to tokenize and monetize data while protecting ownership rights.
Peer Review: Blockchain-based reputation systems enhance the credibility of scientific publications. DeSci creates immutable records of researcher contributions and peer review activities, fostering transparency and accountability in academic exchanges.
DeSci Landscape Overview
DeSci introduces innovative changes at every stage of scientific research through token-based incentive mechanisms. Many DeSci projects focus on specific core areas, with modular projects that seamlessly integrate with other DeSci tools. Whether through modular or holistic design, the ultimate goals of DeSci remain consistent, including:
Democratizing funding decisions
Increasing transparency in methods and data
Incentivizing scientific review
Promoting open access to scientific knowledge
Open Publishing Platforms
The traditional scientific publishing process is slow and expensive. Decentralized publishing platforms improve the efficiency of scientific dissemination through open and instantaneous knowledge sharing. These DeSci platforms allow researchers to publicly release papers, datasets, and methods, while also introducing interactive peer review and social collaboration tools.
ResearchHub: Introduces a token-based reward mechanism to incentivize peer reviewers to provide professional feedback on published research. Smart contracts automatically compensate reviewers once the review is completed and verified, ensuring timely and fair rewards.
DeSci Labs: Focuses on using blockchain technology to ensure the integrity of scientific data, protecting published materials through immutable records to provide strong censorship resistance and data loss protection. DeSci Nodes, developed by DeSci Labs, enable researchers to create and publish research objects based on FAIR data standards, stored in open decentralized data repositories. These objects, such as manuscripts, code, datasets, and videos, are connected via permanent unique identifiers and a decentralized resolver system, supporting citations and accumulating academic credit.
Developer Features
Build applications on the open data layer, implementing custom coordination and value accumulation mechanisms.
Applications can integrate with other DeSci stack modules, such as verifying researcher identity and historical achievements using publishing platform reviews or OpSci’s influence NFTs.
Through DeSci projects, researchers and their datasets, methods, and results can all be tokenized, including the publication of manuscripts. The traditional journal publishing model, which requires payment for uploading or accessing content, can be replaced by decentralized data layers and marketplace platforms. In this new model:
Researchers can freely showcase manuscripts, similar to how NFTs are displayed on platforms like OpenSea.
Platform fees will be charged to users who wish to buy or sell ownership of research outputs, rather than to authors or readers.
As these publishing platforms continue to develop, decentralized identity and reputation systems will emerge. These systems will help break down information silos, remove traditional "gatekeeper" barriers, and foster the free flow of ideas across different research environments.
Research DAOs
The involvement of DAOs is a core practice in DeSci. It's a collective decision-making mechanism coordinated via blockchain and smart contracts that enables community members to jointly fund and manage scientific projects. Research DAOs typically focus on specific scientific themes, such as longevity, genetics, or environmental science. These organizations also use tokenized governance models to allow funders, researchers, and the public to jointly determine research directions.For example, the following DAOs operate within the BIO ecosystem:
VitaDao: Longevity and life extension
ValleyDAO: Climate remediation, food production, and sustainable development
AthenaDAO: Women’s health
HairDAO: Hair loss treatment
Other DAOs such as FrontierDAO and VibeBio are dedicated to funding research in areas like space, fusion energy, climate change, and biotech startups.Traditional funding models tend to support low-risk, large-scale projects, while DAOs enable the funding of smaller, higher-risk, and more innovative research. The decentralized governance model of DAOs avoids the bureaucratic inefficiencies of traditional funding bodies and provides greater freedom for scientific research.
Funding and IP Platforms
DeSci's funding and IP projects use blockchain technology to democratize the funding, ownership, and commercialization of scientific innovations. These projects include tokenized platforms that represent partial ownership of research projects, as well as integrated blockchain-based grant management systems. Some research DAOs also incorporate these same features.
Many DeSci funding platforms use tokenized assets to support research and protect intellectual property. Community members can post rewards for specific scientific areas, and scientists can apply for funding to support their research. Researchers are also able to seek community funding and support for independent projects, promoting a more inclusive model for scientific funding. This mechanism ensures that funds flow toward projects with broad support and allows research to address the diverse needs of the scientific community.
Examples of such funding platforms include:
Molecule: A tokenized IP financing platform focused on the biopharmaceutical sector. At the time of writing, the platform has allocated around $2 million to various research DAOs through its IP-NFT protocol and helped grow the ecosystem’s Total Value Locked (TVL) to $30 million.
Bio.xyz: Incubated by Molecule, this platform is a blockchain-based version of Y Combinator, focusing on accelerating scientific innovation.
For scientists, funding is a critical issue. They spend considerable time writing grant applications, but whether they succeed in securing funding largely depends on their H-index, a measure of the impact of their research papers. Under pressure, scientists often chase trending topics to attract attention. Ultimately, insufficient and unstable funding not only reduces scientific output but can also lead to biases in research project selection and even contribute to the "replication crisis".
DeSci advocates replacing the H-index with NFTs, as the latter can evaluate additional important factors such as expertise, teaching ability, mentoring skills, and collaboration with other scientists. To sustain operations, DAOs can monetize the IP generated from funded research by introducing IP-NFTs. Through the Molecule Marketplace, research projects can connect with potential investors, and research results are stored in the form of IP-NFT metadata. IP-NFTs provide legal protection for research outcomes and offer an innovative alternative to traditional patents. While traditional patents tend to block and restrict data, slowing down the pace of scientific discovery, IP-NFTs are open, flexible, and provide the following monetization opportunities:
Licensing IP for commercialization: Granting IP rights to other entities for commercial use.
Sharing ownership with partners: Dividing IP to share the value generated.
Trading data on open markets: Continuously generating royalty income for creators.
Collateral for loans: Using IP as collateral to secure financing.
IP-NFTs also introduce new mechanisms for coordinating research, such as:
Access control: Only verified participants can contribute to research and receive compensation.
Over time, many DAOs may evolve from a single funding function into comprehensive communities that cover other aspects of the research economy. In addition to these tokenized seed funding platforms, more decentralized secondary markets may emerge in the future. These markets will enable researchers and funders to transfer IP ownership or license it to other investors and community members, further promoting the commercialization and collaboration of scientific innovation.
Healthcare Data Networks
Decentralized medical data networks aim to create a safer, more efficient, and equitable healthcare system by using distributed databases and collaborative research tools. These platforms can aggregate and analyze various datasets (such as clinical trial results, patient records, and genetic data), improving data accessibility while protecting patient privacy. As the importance of medical data continues to grow, along with the rise of personalized medicine and increasing patient demands for control over data protection and sharing, this area becomes particularly crucial.
Given the complexity of the healthcare industry, the goals of decentralized medical data networks cover long-term development and a diverse set of priorities:
GenomesDAO provides a decentralized genomic database to securely store and share historical genomic data, supporting long-term drug development.
Hippocrat develops systems that track patient treatment progress in real-time and securely share live data between authorized stakeholders.
Life Network empowers individuals to securely control and monetize their DNA data, rewarding healthy lifestyles while enabling researchers and developers to rapidly build personalized, genomics-driven applications.
Data Lake allows individuals to tokenize their health data and medical records and sell them to researchers.
As this field continues to evolve, the adoption of decentralized identity systems will gradually increase, enabling seamless and secure access to medical services across different service providers and jurisdictions. This can improve continuity of care and enhance the overall patient experience.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure projects aim to build secure, scalable, and interoperable systems to meet the diverse needs of the global scientific community. These systems include decentralized governance tools, storage solutions, and systems that enable user identity recognition across different platforms and institutions. With these solutions, other DeSci teams can focus on their core scientific research objectives without worrying about the complexities of backend system development and maintenance.
Decentralized Storage and Computing
Arweave and Filecoin support distributed storage and sharing of scientific data and NFTs (such as IP-NFTs, Impact Certificates).
Bacalhau supports direct computation over data storage locations, generating unique content identifiers (CIDs) to ensure the repeatability and verifiability of data.
Coordination Mechanisms and Value Realization
Lab.bio offers researchers access to biological machine learning models and experimental tools without requiring expensive local resources or hosting infrastructure.
Coordination Network provides AI-driven tools for research aggregation, data extraction, proposal review and drafting, and recruiting research candidates.
OpSci: Unlike IP-NFTs, OpSci uses Impact Certificate NFTs to tokenize the identity, credentials, and projects of researchers.
Impact Certificate Collaboration Tools
Holonym: zkDID, a Web3 scientist directory, allowing users to log in using academic credentials.
Hypercerts: ERC-1155 standard tokens used to track research methods, datasets, and outcomes. Researchers can transparently display their progress to attract funding while protecting data ownership.
DeSci collaboration models allow researchers not only to receive funding more equitably but also to enhance the efficiency and credibility of scientific research worldwide through publicly verifiable datasets.
While some projects choose to build their own infrastructure, modular and flexible components remain essential for integrating new DeSci initiatives. To promote DeSci widely, it's critical to improve the platform’s user-friendliness and value, especially for users lacking Web3 experience. Infrastructure projects play a key role in this.
DeSci Memes
Researchers face numerous challenges in securing funding in the early stages of their work, and raising funds through memecoins also comes with significant difficulties. First, the general public lacks the scientific knowledge necessary to effectively support complex projects. Additionally, research typically takes five to ten years to produce results, while memecoin prices fluctuate sharply, making it difficult to provide stable funding for long-term research. However, DeSci’s liquidity exit mechanisms provide flexible financial support for research projects and have helped some research teams secure tangible funding. Other benefits include:
Cultural Promotion: DeSci memes serve as a cultural export and promotional tool, effectively drawing the attention of the crypto community to DeSci and the field of scientific research.
Incentive Mechanism: DeSci memes create a positive value cycle by involving funders in gamified incentives and speculative games. This not only increases liquidity but also enhances investor engagement and benefits.
Market Cap and Token Information
Category | DAO/Platform | Ticker | Description | Market Cap ($M) | FDV ($M) | Holders | Total Supply |
BIO Ecosystem | VitaDAO | $VITA | Longevity research | 39.8 | 283.8 | 6 | 27,219,552 |
BIO Ecosystem | AthenaDAO | $ATH | Women's reproductive health research and drug discovery | 13.05 | 44.8 | 791 | 1,000,000,000 |
BIO Ecosystem | Cerebrum DAO | $NEURON | Brain health | 16.6 | 79.9 | 1,077 | 86,000,000,000 |
BIO Ecosystem | PsyDAO | $PSY | Psychedelic medicine | 7.3 | 29.2 | 1,023 | 102,334,155 |
BIO Ecosystem | CyroDAO | $CYRO | Cryobiology | 13.5 | 20.1 | 994 | 4,422,687 |
BIO Ecosystem | ValleyDAO | $GROW | Application of synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology in climate remediation, food production, and sustainability | 7.4 | 34.9 | 1,084 | 30,050,000 |
BIO Ecosystem | HairDAO | $HAIR | Open-source investment and operations organization focused on hair loss treatment | 57.2 | 135.8 | 560 | 1,533,338 |
Funded | Research Hub | $RSC | Science research incentive platform established by Coinbase founder | 111.6 | 984.4 | 9,401 | 1,000,000,000 |
Funded | AxonDAO | $AXGT | Telemedicine and clinical data startup | 93.4 | 291.1 | 23,368 | 1,000,000,000 |
Funded | GenomesDAO | $GENOME | Token of GenomesDAO, which uses DeFi to monetize genomic data | 27.0 | 27.0 | 16 | 949,981,889.57 |
Meme | Pump.science | $RIF | Antibiotics for tuberculosis treatment | 29.7 | 29.85 | 34,980 | 999,655,336.38 |
Meme | Pump.science | $URO | Urolithin compounds to potentially extend lifespan | 35.7 | 34.8 | 23,470 | 999,694,017.60 |
Meme | Sci Hub | $SCIHUB | Unofficial token organized by @0xAA_Science to support the open-source research paper website | 11.7 | 11.7 | 16,757 | 999,989,120 |
Meme | bio/acc | $Bio/acc | Community meme token before Bioacc's official project launch | 0.30 | 0.30 | 4,282 | 998,511,702 |
Quantum Entanglement Meme | bio/acc | $PRO | $PRO and $ANTI are fundamentally independent, but through custom contracts, their token economics are interlinked. This can also be understood as a dual-token model, where both tokens share liquidity and market cap. | 2.6 | 2.6 | 6,369 | 999,982,465.98 |
Quantum Entanglement Meme | bio/acc | $ANTI | $PRO and $ANTI are fundamentally independent, but through custom contracts, their token economics are interlinked. This can also be understood as a dual-token model, where both tokens share liquidity and market cap. | 1.98 | 1.98 | 5,515 | 999,973,376 |
Biotechnology and Longevity Research
RIF
Background: RIF stands for Rifampicin, an antibiotic used in the treatment of tuberculosis. Experiments show that it can extend the lifespan of worms by 32.87%.
Market Cap and Data: Current market cap is $29.7M.
URO
Background: URO represents a compound called Urolithin, which has been shown to extend lifespan by 6.35%, promote autophagy, and improve mitochondrial function, showing potential in combating aging.
Market Cap and Data: Current market cap is $35.2M.
VITA
Background: Focuses on longevity research and funding, supporting the tokenization of intellectual property and data assets, and promoting open scientific research.
Market Cap and Data: Current market cap is $42.1M, with over $5M raised in funding.
Scientific Publishing and Community
SCI-HUB
Background: A decentralized academic paper platform aimed at breaking the monopoly of traditional scientific publishers, but facing piracy controversies.
Token Dynamics: The largest holder controls over 20% of the tokens and has announced plans to donate part of the profits to the SCI-HUB Foundation.
Market Cap and Data: Highest market cap was $70M, current market cap is $11.7M.
RSC
Platform: ResearchHub
Background: A scientific community launched by Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, incentivizing users to publish high-quality papers, reviews, and other content.
Market Cap and Data: Current market cap is $92.95M, with more than 8,000 holding addresses.
Women’s Health and Biotechnology
ATH
Platform: AthenaDAO
Background: Focuses on research in female reproductive health, including ovarian aging, gynecological cancers, and more.
Market Cap and Data: Current market cap is $13.3M, with 322 holding addresses.
HAIR
Background: Funds research into hair loss, has obtained related patents, and is part of the BioDAO project.
Market Cap and Data: Current market cap is $57.2M, with 560 holding addresses.
Ecological Conservation and Open Science
GROW
Platform: ValleyDAO
Background: Focuses on synthetic biology and climate protection. Token holders can participate in decisions related to research funding and intellectual property commercialization.
Market Cap and Data: Current market cap is $7.9M.
Challenges and Risks
Although DeSci shows great potential, it still faces many challenges during its development. The design concepts of many protocols are continuously evolving, and it will take time to determine which project models can successfully capture value and achieve sustainable operations.In terms of IP, the outcomes of research projects are uncertain. If the IP-NFT community fails to effectively commercialize intellectual property, the project's revenue will be severely affected. Additionally, when collaborating with traditional research institutions, there's often a need to cede a large portion of IP rights, which requires DAOs to invest significant resources in complex negotiations, thereby increasing operational costs.
Regarding verifiability, decentralized identity and data validation protocols are still in their early stages. Researchers may acquire funding by presenting false credentials or engaging in unethical research, increasing risks. Furthermore, the proportion of false papers in open access journals is relatively high, which affects the credibility of research and leads to varying quality in scientific outputs. This highlights the urgent need to establish robust reputation and governance systems.Looking at reproducibility, while open and verifiable methods help enhance research reproducibility, there's currently a lack of sufficient incentive mechanisms to encourage replication studies and verification work.
Compliance is another major challenge. Decentralized storage protocols may not meet regulatory requirements such as GDPR, HIPAA, and others, meaning projects must collaborate with regulatory bodies to ensure legal compliance. Additionally, many open science platforms struggle to maintain low-cost operations, limiting their appeal to more researchers and affecting the long-term sustainability of the project.
The lack of efficient collaboration and incentive tools is also one of the factors hindering the development of the DeSci ecosystem. Currently, open science mainly relies on volunteer contributions, and the lack of effective collaboration, incentive, and validation tools is preventing DeSci from expanding further. Moreover, gender imbalance in both the crypto and scientific fields is a significant issue. A male-dominated environment can lead to biases in research direction, such as neglecting women's health issues. There's an urgent need to promote diverse participation to ensure the comprehensiveness and fairness of research.
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