Understanding, Questioning, and Deepening the Understanding of DeSci

1. The Evolution of DeSci

1.1 Introduction to DeSci

Pain Point:

The academic community has long faced issues related to the lagging infrastructure for the maintenance, dissemination, ownership, and distribution of intellectual property. In the complex field of knowledge sharing and discovery, balancing security, transparency, incentive mechanisms, and accessibility has always been a challenge. Traditional models rely on centralized verification systems, which limit inclusivity and widespread participation. Existing systems also struggle to adequately reward and recognize knowledge contributions, affecting the development of a comprehensive, collective knowledge base.

Solution:

The core concept of DeSci is to provide everyone with equal access to scientific knowledge at all levels and to ensure the openness and transparency of the research process. It aims to create an ecosystem that encourages knowledge contributors to share research outcomes, while allowing anyone to browse or even iterate on this content without permission.

This new type of research model has the following characteristics:

• The allocation of funds is determined by the public through mechanisms such as DAO, breaking the control of small closed groups in traditional science.
• Promote dynamic cooperation of global resources and break through the collaborative limitations set by institutions in traditional science.
• The flow of funds is more transparent and efficient, shortening the lengthy funding decision cycle in traditional science. At the same time, the token and reputation incentive mechanisms enhance the value of peer review.
• Knowledge contributors can transparently allocate their intellectual property, overcoming the issues of unclear ownership and non-transparent access paths in traditional science. DeSci also encourages the sharing of all research data, including unsuccessful attempts, to address the publication bias problem in traditional science.

Doubts about DeSci 1.2

The original intention of DeSci is to create an ecosystem for scholars to share academic research and obtain research IP ownership, while ordinary users mainly find it easier to access this academic research. Essentially, the threshold of academia has not been broken, and the core players in the ecosystem remain top scholars.

For the average person, there are few scenarios outside of writing papers in school that require easy access to academic reports. It must be admitted that the ability to contribute valuable academic IP is only in the hands of a few.

This is exactly the challenge facing DeSci - it is too idealistic and noble, making it difficult to fully realize the true value of web3, which is community effects and an efficient economic system. The foundation of DeSci should not only be an open knowledge contribution platform, but rather an active ecosystem based on an efficient token system and strong community effects. This economic foundation requires widespread user participation; if users cannot truly engage, and lack the incentive to hold and trade tokens, then the coin price, liquidity, and economic system will be difficult to sustain.

Therefore, it is clearly unreasonable to regard scientists as the sole core players, and it cannot form a sustainable mechanism.

2. Rethinking DeSci

2.1 In-depth Understanding of DeSci

Science is not equivalent to knowledge

DeSci should not be limited to the realm of scientists, but should lower the threshold for ordinary people to access science. We should avoid overusing "science" and instead refer more to "knowledge". Science itself sets a barrier for DeSci, while knowledge can be data in any form and from any field.

Contributing knowledge from one's professional field or areas of interest is inherently attractive and easily creates a viral effect. Therefore, expanding the concept of "science" makes community participation possible and allows web3 to maximize its value.

DeSci should be a pyramid structure, dividing participants and contributors of knowledge sharing along the entire chain into different levels, each role being indispensable. Scholars, as participants at the top of the pyramid, contribute the core value of DeSci while bringing explosive points to the project. Taking new drug development as an example, if DeSci can participate in or facilitate the launch of a certain drug, the impact on the track and the project will be enormous. Community users, as participants at the base of the pyramid, also have their unique ways of playing, as they maintain the efficient operation of the entire ecosystem and economic system.

2.2 The Cornerstone of DeSci - BIO

2.2.1 Overview of BIO

BIO Protocol is a decentralized scientific financial infrastructure aimed at promoting biotechnology innovation through community collaboration. It provides tools for the global community (, including patients, scientists, and biotechnology professionals ), to fund, develop, and govern scientific intellectual property to accelerate the commercialization of biotechnology research.

Core Function: Supports Biotechnological Decentralized Organizations - BioDAOs

2.2.2 In-depth Analysis of BIO

1. Technical Details

The technology stack and architecture design of BIO Protocol support the tokenization of biotechnology IP and on-chain governance:

• Develop customized public chains to ensure transparency, verifiability, and security in the processes of biotechnology and its development, commercialization, and transactions, while reducing transaction costs.
• The IP-Token mechanism is based on smart contracts, where each IP asset has an independent token that defines its ownership and trading rules. Users can obtain partial or full ownership through trading, creating possibilities for circulation and trading in the secondary market while protecting the IP of biological science research.
• Based on a DAO architecture, members vote to manage and fund research projects through BIO tokens. Each DAO can focus on a specific research field, such as VitaDAO focusing on longevity research and CryoDAO focusing on cryogenics, etc.

2. Operational Mode Analysis

BioDAO

BioDAOs are decentralized autonomous organizations within the BIO Protocol ecosystem, each focusing on a specific scientific field. The BIO Protocol provides BioDAOs with ongoing funding, liquidity, and infrastructure support to accelerate research progress and improve project success rates.

BIO Protocol provides for BioDAOs:

1. Funding: The approved BioDAO receives initial funding from the BIO Protocol treasury to support early research projects and expand its influence.
2. Liquidity Support: Provide on-chain liquidity for BioDAO, allowing it to focus on scientific research without worrying about market liquidity management.
3. Governance: By holding multiple BioDAO tokens, a meta-governance layer is established, allowing BIO token holders to participate in the decision-making of the operation, fund allocation, and development direction of multiple BioDAOs.
4. IP Commercialization: Through the IP tokenization mechanism, assist BioDAOs in transforming research results into tradable intellectual property assets.
5. Standardized Framework: Provides a standard framework for the creation and operation of BioDAO, including tokenomics design, governance structure, and data management tools.

Curation Mechanism

The curation mechanism of the BIO Protocol aims to select and support the most promising BioDAOs to join the ecosystem. This is a community-driven process, where community members can help decide which emerging scientific organizations deserve funding support and ecological resources.

Curation Process:

• Submit Application: New BioDAO application to join the BIO ecosystem must have a clear research direction and preliminary governance structure.
• Vote Support: BIO token holders lock their tokens to gain voting rights (vBIO), which are used to vote for candidate BioDAOs.
• Curation rewards: Successful applicants of BioDAO supporters can gain the opportunity to participate in whitelist financing and have priority access or discounts on products.
• Join the ecosystem: Obtain initial funding and support through the curation process of BioDAO, and be included in the BIO ecosystem.

Reward Mechanism

Bio/Acc provides rewards in the form of BIO tokens, including:

• Initial token auction conducted through the BIO launchpad
• Research Funding ( IP Token Issuance )
• Sale of IP-related consumer products
• The product has entered the clinical trial phase.

Rewards can also flow directly to BioDAO product users:

• Participate in clinical trials or self-report health data
• Use/purchase products ( such as Follistatin, Vitarna, electronic implants, etc. )

IP-Token

• BioDAOs develop and hold ownership of IP tokens, typically holding a portfolio of IP tokens related to their research field.
• How IP Tokens operate: In addition to potential profit-sharing rights, IPT holders can obtain governance rights and priority access.

2.2.3 Reasons to Invest in BIO

BIO has built the largest DeSci platform to date, financializing scientific research with significant financial value while ensuring safety and transparency. Through the community-selected BIO subnet (, such as vitaDAO), the value created by users is commercialized and shared back with them. $BIO will continue to capture all the value generated by DeSci subnets, making it the most valuable token in the DeSci field. In the long term, the demand for health and longevity will continue to increase, and BIO has greatly reduced the participation and usage barriers in related fields, making it worthy of long-term attention.

The product has undergone a long period of accumulation and iteration, with star projects like vitaDAO emerging in the ecosystem, proving that the operational model is feasible, and that there is demand from both capital and academia for the product. The founding team has rich experience in research and the web3 field; James is the founder of orangeDAO and participated in YC19W; Paul is the founder of vitaDAO and molecule, and the team has top-tier influence in the DeSci field.

3. More Possibilities of DeSci

The imaginative space brought by DeSci is not limited to research or drug discovery. Limiting DeSci to the scientific field would greatly restrict its value and scalability. If we incorporate the concept of knowledge co-construction, where knowledge can be data from any field, dimension, or size, then the process of building DeSci resembles constructing a vast dynamic database.

The Combination of DeSci and AI

DeSci should fragment knowledge and create a system where everyone can participate in knowledge co-construction. This complements the community attributes of web3, as the DeSci ecosystem will facilitate the organization of data from different fields, such as Gym DAO gathering fitness enthusiasts, Longivity DAO gathering biomedical enthusiasts, and even bounty task DAOs. For example, a navigation model may require traffic flow and terrain data from different streets in a certain area, which is not systematic data, but can be collected by individuals. Participants may be field experts or enthusiasts, and with the support of DeSci, any knowledge contributed by anyone has the opportunity to be continuously enriched, and each participant's data contribution can earn ongoing profit sharing.

The charm of this model lies in the fact that, although individual knowledge and data are limited, they all hold certain value. Any research needs to start from the accumulation of basic knowledge. By collaboratively building a community, fragmented data can be gathered into large-scale datasets, resulting in an effect where 1+1>2.

To truly establish this web3-based knowledge base, the primary task is to develop the community and expand the user base to generate fission; even in the cold start phase, attracting researchers is secondary. This approach aligns more closely with the essence of cryptocurrency. The motivation for retail investors to participate and hold tokens comes from contributing data to the data organization by joining through staking, earning incentives or staking income. The more valuable the contributed data is, the more it is cited or associated, thus allowing the corresponding data organization to gain more external revenue and native incentives. This mechanism not only incentivizes user participation but also promotes data quality.

In this vast system, there will inevitably be users who contribute little or merely fill the ranks, but the generation of this junk data will not affect the operation of the system. These users are still allowed to provide data, participate in staking, and try their luck to earn the lowest tier community incentives.