Forwarded the Original Title: DeSci’s Crossroads: Returning to Value, or Chasing Meme?

The DeSci consensus has just begun.

On November 26, Paul Kohlhaas, founder of BIO Protocol, responded to CZ’s tweet on social platforms and said, “Decentralized Science (DeSci) has successfully channeled the liquidity of meme coins into universities and labs around the world to support real scientific research.” This phenomenon prompts deep reflection: how has scientific research, traditionally characterized by rigor and long-term commitment—especially in the field of medicine—managed to successfully intersect with the rapidly changing crypto market?

Scientific research, particularly in medicine, objectively requires a large investment of time, usually measured in years or ten years. This stands in stark contrast to the “instant returns” culture of today’s markets. Why has Decentralized Science become a hot topic in November? Is it due to a market correction triggered by meme sentiment reaching historic highs? Or is Decentralized Science merely a new meme trend cloaked in the guise of benefiting humanity through research? This article will examine the business models and development directions of Bio Protocol and Pump.Science to explore the true demand for DeSci, the conditions under which it can align with market needs, and its potential for long-term development.

Breakdown of the Bio Protocol Business Model

First of all, what triggered the DeSci narrative was Bio Protocol. On November 8, Binance completed strategic financing for BIO, but the round and amount were not announced. Stimulated by this, BIO launched the BIO Genesis community fundraising event to raise US$33 million.

BIO currently has 7 active DAOs, researching on longevity and health, hair loss treatment, brain health, etc. It should be noted that BioDAO does not refer to a research team in a certain direction, such as the longevity and health track, but should be regarded as a specific implementation of the BIO Protocol. Why do I say this? Please look at the BIO Protocol business model map above. Simply put, BIO is composed of a nested Launchpad, non-revenue staking, incentives, and a built-in Launchpad enabling unlimited fractal expansions. BIO consists of these four interconnected components.

Specifically, the first part, Launchpad BioDAOs, BioDAO raises funds through token sales and uses its funds to support related biotech projects. Each BioDAO can also be regarded as a Launchpad, which I will talk about in the fourth section.

The second part is BIO’s staking mechanism. Under the guise of curation, users’ tokens are locked. From the governance and proposal pages, it’s evident that BIO’s usual staking rate hovers around 15%, but when voting for the creation of a new BioDAO, the staking rate exceeds 20%. Staking does not yield rewards directly; instead, users who stake on a BioDAO that wins selection receive BIO token rewards. If the BioDAO they vote for is not selected, there are no rewards. Curation is an excellent tool for BIO to lock user tokens. When a new BioDAO is launched, its value output to the BIO ecosystem far outweighs the rewards issued by BIO.

The third part is the main use case of BIO tokens: incentives. The incentives are split into two areas. The first area is for participating BioDAOs. When they launch the initial token sale, BIO will issue incentives. For users, incentives will be issued if they use BioDAO’s products or make certain contributions to BioDAO. However, the amount of tokens issued as incentives currently seems negligible. Compared to traditional scientific research, this greatly reduces costs. For instance, drug trial participation in traditional industries is very expensive, while BIO issues incentives in the form of BIO tokens.

The fourth part involves fractal expansions. Each BioDAO can be seen as a sub-Launchpad. A BioDAO selects specific teams or research topics, raises funds, and issues IP tokens or IP NFTs. Holders of these assets are promised certain early participation rights but are not guaranteed any form of additional returns.

From a business model perspective, BIO still operates using familiar industry methods, but its unique feature lies in the Launchpad nested within a Launchpad structure. As specific research projects issue tokens or NFT assets, potential liquidity shortages will first impact the BioDAO tokens. The BIO token, meanwhile, acts as a layer of insurance; its value would only come under scrutiny if multiple BioDAO tokens encounter issues. At the same time, the benefits of asset issuance by specific research projects will fully reflect on BIO, as it attracts more users to buy BIO tokens and participate in the ecosystem. Another distinctive feature is the justification of “participating in scientific research” to encourage users to stake tokens without needing to provide direct returns. Instead, potential returns come from BioDAO tokens or specific research projects, allowing BIO to lock user tokens for the long term at minimal cost. BIO serves as an index token spanning all these DAO tokens.

How does Pump.Science Blur the Lines between DeSci and Memecoins?

Molecule is a protocol for bringing intellectual property (IP) on-chain, responsible for issuing IP-NFTs and IPTs for Bio Protocol. Pump.Science, Molecule’s Launchpad, tokenizes intellectual property rights for specific compounds in the form of tokens.

Pump.Science argues that, unlike purchasing shares in a biotech company—which equates to owning the company’s entire portfolio of drugs—its platform allows users to invest in a single drug. Tokens issued on Pump.Science comply with legal regulations, but only synthetic compounds can be tokenized, not naturally occurring substances like nicotine. However, if nicotine is combined with another substance, such as caffeine, that combination can be patented. Pump.Science’s approach involves tokenizing these patents or data and testing their efficacy.

Pump.Science has launched two tokens so far: $RIF and $URO. The market cap of $RIF has already reached $100 million. These tokens represent compounds that can be developed into supplements and potentially generate revenue through sales or patent licensing. To attract more investors, Molecule develops datasets to validate the compounds’ efficacy, such as demonstrating significantly increased lifespans in animal tests.

However, does Pump.Science truly aim to advance scientific research? Evidence increasingly suggests otherwise. As Christmas approaches, Pump.Science plans to host a “Rif Christmas” event, launching two tokens per day for ten days, releasing 20 synthetic compound tokens in December alone. While the platform claims it will gradually reveal development pathways, aiming to progress to human trials and even establish a product marketplace for various supplements, the likely reality is that most of these 20 tokens will lose all market value long before their corresponding supplements ever reach the market.

From the perspective of chasing market trends, Pump.Science is actively advancing the development of AI-related products. It plans to create an AI bot that trades based on compound experimental data and executes operations according to the progress of events at different stages.

Returning to the main topic: Should DeSci focus on intrinsic value or continue chasing meme trends? Based on the business models and development directions of Bio Protocol and Pump.Science, it’s evident that neither has fully committed to scientific research while avoiding the opportunity to offer memecoins. This may represent one of the potential future paths for DeSci protocols. However, one thing is clear: scientific research must adhere to fundamentals and objective rules. Biological science research requires long-term and substantial funding, making short-term speculation with memecoins unsustainable. Furthermore, relying on a single memecoin is not a viable development model for DeSci protocols.

Investing in DeSci tokens requires patience with narratives that may initially lack attention. DeSci needs to leverage VC-style token models to boost valuations, enhance the perceived value of leading projects, and continually release signals through iconic figures. Since DeSci’s market awareness is far below that of AI, it requires more authoritative signals to increase market confidence and consensus.

In terms of specific go-to-market (GTM) strategies, DeSci can be divided into several subcategories: fundraising, research, data, peer review, publishing, infrastructure and services, art, open science ecosystems, and community building. It’s advisable to select areas that align with one’s understanding or have relatively lower barriers to implementation.

Additionally, DeSci’s model is inherently fractal—each research topic can act as a sub-token. Larger projects can support smaller ones, using web3-style crowdfunding to finance real-world research projects. These projects can serve as practical showcases for DeSci applications. However, due to the inherent uncertainty and high failure rates of scientific research, this approach faces significant challenges.

The market needs numerous real-world examples of DeSci making an impact to build consensus, and this process will take more time than the AI narrative. ChatGPT was released at the end of 2022, and by 2023, speculation in the crypto space began. However, DeSci will require an even longer timeline. From another perspective, though, this delay clears some obstacles for DeSci. The rapid development of AI has subconsciously prepared people to accept the possibility of seemingly unachievable things becoming reality, making initiatives like VitaDAO’s longevity science no longer a distant dream. In conclusion, I believe the consensus around DeSci is just beginning. It requires long-term development, and we should be prepared for this narrative to fully take off only in the next bull market.

Disclaimer:

1. This article is reproduced from [TechFlow]. Forwarded the Original Title: DeSci’s Crossroads: Returning to Value, or Chasing Meme? The copyright belongs to the original author [Kevin, the Researcher from BlockBooster]. If you have any objection to the reprint, please contact Gate Learn team, the team will handle it as soon as possible according to relevant procedures.
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