Table of Contents
Decentralized Science (DeSci) is an emerging movement that uses blockchain and Web3 to transform traditional scientific research. By building public infrastructure for funding, creating, reviewing, crediting, storing, and disseminating scientific knowledge, DeSci aims to make research more open, equitable, and collaborative.
This new offspring of blockchain technology is quickly becoming a hot topic during major conferences. Take Ethereum’s Devcon which recently took place in Bangkok, Thailand as an example. Not only there were over 15 side events dedicated to Science, but also some of them attracted the biggest names in the game like Vitalik Buterin and a few others, who also originated L1 blockchains but decided to remain unmentioned.
What is DeSci?
The DeSci movement arose from the need to address challenges in conventional scientific practices, such as limited funding sources, restricted data access, and centralized control over publishing. By utilizing decentralized technologies, DeSci seeks to democratize research funding, enhance transparency, and foster global collaboration among scientists.
Leading DeSci Projects by Market Capitalization
The current top four DeSci projects by market capitalization and community engagement:
- OriginTrail (TRAC): With a market cap of approximately $338 million, OriginTrail is a decentralized knowledge graph that organizes and verifies data across various industries, including supply chain management, healthcare, and scientific research. Its platform enhances data integrity and promotes open science by ensuring transparent and trustworthy data sharing.
- VitaDAO (VITA): Focused on funding longevity research, VitaDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization that supports projects related to human lifespan extension. It enables community members to collectively fund and govern research initiatives, promoting open collaboration in the field of longevity science.
- ResearchCoin (RSC): Holding a market cap of around $94.8 million, ResearchCoin is designed to incentivize open access publishing and peer review. It rewards researchers for sharing their work openly and for contributing to the peer-review process, thereby fostering a more collaborative and transparent scientific community.
- AthenaDAO: Aimed at advancing women’s health research, AthenaDAO leverages decentralized funding mechanisms to support studies that address health issues unique to women. By involving a diverse community in decision-making, it ensures that research priorities align with the needs of women worldwide.
The Potential
Decentralized Science (DeSci) has the potential to transform the way scientific research is conducted by addressing key challenges in the current system. One significant advantage is its ability to democratize funding. Decentralized platforms open the door for a broader range of contributors to support scientific projects, reducing reliance on traditional funding institutions and enabling more diverse and innovative research to thrive.
Read Also: Pump.fun Becomes a Platform for the Insane
Furthermore, DeSci enhances transparency through blockchain technology, which ensures that research data and findings remain immutable and publicly accessible. This transparency fosters greater trust and reproducibility in scientific endeavours. Additionally, DeSci breaks down geographical and institutional barriers, promoting global collaboration. Scientists from diverse backgrounds can now contribute to and benefit from shared knowledge, driving collective progress.
Historical Context of DeSci
The concept of Decentralized Science (DeSci) has evolved from various movements aimed at democratizing and enhancing the transparency of scientific research. The Open Science movement, which advocates for unrestricted access to research outputs, laid the groundwork for DeSci by promoting the sharing of knowledge and data. The advent of blockchain technology further propelled this evolution, offering tools to decentralize data storage and management. Early applications of blockchain in science included initiatives like the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to represent scientific data and intellectual property, enabling secure and transparent transactions.
Influential figures and organizations have been instrumental in advancing the DeSci narrative. For instance, Molecule Protocol, a project based in Switzerland, has been working on digitizing intellectual property through NFTs to finance research, aiming to create a marketplace for scientific innovation. Additionally, the Decentralized Trials & Research Alliance (DTRA) was established to accelerate the adoption of decentralized research methods, particularly in clinical trials, highlighting the growing institutional interest in decentralized approaches.
The Role of Cryptocurrency in Scientific Projects
Cryptocurrencies are integral to the DeSci movement, providing powerful tools to empower scientific projects. They offer incentives to researchers by rewarding them with tokens for sharing data, publishing open-access papers, and participating in peer review. This encourages a more open and collaborative scientific culture. Cryptocurrencies also facilitate innovative funding mechanisms, such as initial coin offerings (ICOs) or decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), which allow projects to raise capital from a global pool of contributors.
Read Also: Top Bitcoin-Based Meme Coins
Lastly, the security features inherent in blockchain technology safeguard intellectual property and sensitive data, ensuring that researchers maintain control over their work while still enabling open sharing. Together, these elements position cryptocurrency as a vital enabler of DeSci’s transformative potential. Decentralized Science represents a paradigm shift in how scientific research is conducted, funded, and shared. By accumulating the power of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, DeSci aims to create a more inclusive, transparent, and collaborative scientific ecosystem.
Does Decentralized Science Work?
It is often the case with crypto, that projects never reach any reasonable success once they are funded by the community. Some don’t have the right roadmap, some struggle to retain the team, whilst others simply rug their community mid-way. With this in mind, we are keen to see what DeSci is on track to achieve by looking at the projects funded by VitaDAO. As you already know it is a decentralized autonomous organization dedicated to funding early-stage longevity research, which has supported numerous projects that have achieved significant milestones:
Korolchuk Lab at Newcastle University
VitaDAO-funded research aimed at discovering novel autophagy activators. Autophagy, the process of recycling cellular components, becomes dysregulated with age and is associated with numerous diseases. The Korolchuk Lab is screening compound libraries to identify new compounds that can restore autophagy function in aged cells.
Matrix Biosciences
In collaboration with the Gorbunova Lab, Matrix Biosciences is developing therapeutics based on high molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HMW-HA) inspired by the cancer resistance observed in naked mole rats. This venture aims to translate these findings into treatments for cancer and age-related diseases.
Artan Bio
VitaDAO funded Artan Bio’s gene therapy project, led by Dr. Michael Torres and Dr. Anthony Schwartz, focusing on suppressing mutations that drive aging. This initiative represents a pioneering approach in gene therapy for longevity.
Humanity
This quantified-self app connects with wearables and activity trackers to monitor digital biomarkers, generating a proprietary aging score. It assists users in understanding activities that can slow down or reverse their aging rate, promoting better healthspan interventions.
