Subscribe to Bankless or sign in
In anticipation of BIO Protocol’s token launch last Friday, DeSci (Decentralized Science) tokens saw a strong wave of appreciation as the flagship protocol’s token launch grew near.
This surge has continued through BIO’s launch as the lines between frontier tech like DeSci and AI continue to blur, mixing to manifest in large bids for tokens linked to these technologies. As a critical hub for DeSci funding, BIO’s launch holds promise, fanning the flames of this extremely experimental sector, drawing more attention and capital to DeSci over time.
In today's article, let's zoom into BIO Protocol, how it works, the challenges it seeks to tackle, and the moonshot BioDAOs operating under its umbrella. Then, let's expand beyond its ecosystem to explore other DeSci projects that approach the narrative from unique angles and offer additional tools or use cases for transforming scientific collaboration and funding.
BanklessDavid C Dec 10, 2024 • 6 min read
Inside BIO Protocol
At its core, BIO Protocol is a decentralized, token-governed platform that supports and incubates specialized BioDAOs. By bringing funding decisions, IP ownership, and governance onchain, BIO directly tackles several persistent obstacles in biotech:
- Help early-stage projects escape the “valley of death,” where insufficient funding often prevents promising ideas from maturing into real-world applications.
- Combat the siloing of data and intellectual property by tokenizing research outputs, promoting open access and transparent collaboration.
- Replace opaque R&D pipelines with real-time, onchain tracking of capital flows and milestones.
To achieve these goals, BIO implements several core mechanisms:
▪️ Curation
BIO holders lock their tokens (vBIO) to help determine which new BioDAOs are admitted to the network. This process ensures only the most promising or community-backed ventures join, as those pledging support must stake BIO for a set period. Those who stake will then get to participate exclusively in the BioDAO’s funding round should it be approved.
▪️ Funding and Liquidity
After clearing the curation phase, BioDAOs open a private pre-seed auction for those who pledged vBIO.
This allows a DAO’s early supporters and BIO’s community to invest in early-stage scientific research under terms traditionally reserved for venture capital. Meanwhile, BIO Protocol manages liquidity on behalf of these BioDAOs, removing the need for them to oversee secondary markets. The BIO treasury pairs tokens — i.e., VITA/BIO or HAIR/BIO — with ETH or other assets, generating fees for the protocol while ensuring stable trading pairs. This arrangement frees BioDAOs to focus on advancing their research rather than juggling market operations.
▪️ Meta-Governance
Because the BIO treasury holds a portion of each BioDAO’s tokens, BIO holders collectively gain influence across the broader DeSci ecosystem.
This meta-governance structure allows them to guide decisions in multiple BioDAOs — whether shaping research priorities or highlighting synergies between projects. Further, by diversifying the treasury’s holdings, the protocol strengthens its capacity to invest in fresh ventures and reinvest in established ones, enabling seamless coordination across an expanding landscape of scientific inquiries.
▪️ Providing Returns
To incentivize clear, measurable contributions to its network, BIO issues “bio/acc rewards” in the form of additional BIO tokens for BioDAOs that achieve key milestones. Alongside these incentives, BioDAOs can tokenize their IP — from research data to patents — making it easier to license, share, or monetize discoveries. By issuing IP tokens, BioDAOs can grant fractional ownership of their findings, allowing more stakeholders to benefit from future breakthroughs while preserving control over critical decisions and potentially earning revenue from their data’s use.
On top of these direct incentives, the network’s overall value grows through token allocations and protocol-owned liquidity. Grants to new BioDAOs are exchanged for a small equity stake in their tokens, and liquidity-pool fees flow back into the treasury. As BioDAOs mature and generate tangible results, the collective worth of these holdings should increase, reinforcing the cycle of funding, growth, and innovation.
The BioDAOs in BIO
Currently, eight BioDAOs are live within BIO’s network, each focused on a particular area of research.
- ⚡️VitaDAO | $VITA
VitaDAO, launched in 2021, backs research on extending healthy human lifespans. Funded by Pfizer Ventures and Balaji Srinivasan, it explores aging’s biological mechanisms, including neurodegenerative disease. - 🔬 Quantum Biology DAO
Quantum Biology DAO studies how weak magnetic fields affect cells at the quantum level. Partnering with the Quantum Biology Institute, it aims to develop quantum microscopes that could open new avenues in longevity research, drug discovery, and more. - 🧑🦲 HairDAO | HAIR
HairDAO unites patients, researchers, and funders to tackle hair loss, a surprisingly under-resourced problem. - 🌱 ValleyDAO | $GROW
ValleyDAO pursues synthetic biology solutions for climate change, such as engineering microbes to capture CO₂ or produce biodegradable materials. - 👭 AthenaDAO | $ATH
AthenaDAO focuses on women’s health, filling gaps overlooked by standard funding. Through a decentralized community of patients, scientists, and advocates, it supports projects on reproductive health, hormonal disorders, and other under-researched topics in female biology. - 🧊 CryoDAO | $CRYO
CryoDAO directs funds toward cryopreservation research to improve organ and tissue storage, a method with life-saving potential. - 🌈 PsyDAO | $PSY
PsyDAO concentrates on psychedelic research for mental health issues like depression, addiction, and PTSD. Using a decentralized grant model and AI-based audits, it accelerates the exploration of new compounds, while onchain governance ensures transparency in resource allocation. - 🧠 CerebrumDAO | $NEURON
CerebrumDAO rallies a global community to prevent neurodegeneration and extend brain health. It examines conditions like Alzheimer’s, focusing on inflammation, metabolic issues, and the blood-brain barrier and their impacts.
Other Promising DeSci Projects
Outside of the BIO Protocol ecosystem, several interesting DeSci projects abound which bring either new platforms or tools to analyzing scientific findings.
▪️ ResearchHub Foundation
Founded by Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, and Patrick Joyce, ResearchHub Foundation uses RSC to create an open platform for publishing and reviewing scientific work. Contributors earn RSC by posting research, curating content, or facilitating discussions. With the goal of establishing a “GitHub” for scientific research, the platform aims to streamline peer review, encourage open sharing, and bring real-time accountability to academic publishing — all through token incentives. Holders of RSC can also vote on platform improvements and the distribution of rewards.
▪️ yesnoerror
Yesnoerror is a decentralized platform that combines AI with community-driven oversight with the aim of enhancing the reliability of scientific papers. Its AI engine continuously scans studies for inaccuracies — whether in numeric data, statistical analyses, or references — and flags potential issues for further review. Community members who verify or correct these errors earn YNE tokens, creating a built-in incentive for thorough scrutiny and timely feedback.
Overall, YNE hopes to catch problems early to prevent flawed conclusions, reducing the risk of poor policy decisions and wasted research, and developing an AI that can learn from users to better detect issues across a series of different scientific fields.
▪️ pump.Science
Pump.science is a DeSci platform that aims to identify and develop chemicals that could increase our healthy lifespan. It hopes to gamify research by running low-cost tests on simple organisms (worms, flies) before using complex models (mice). This approach can identify promising interventions early, using crypto-based funding for proposing or investing in new compounds. By live-streaming experiments (what pump.science dubs “stadium science”), the protocol intends to provide real-time data, enabling both researchers and speculators to follow results and potentially adjust their support as studies progress.
Beyond just extending life, pump.science explores possible enhancements to athletic performance, referencing the idea of a “doping Olympics for animals.” If successful, compounds might eventually become consumer products sold through a marketplace, with creators maintaining IP rights and suppliers potentially bidding to bring new discoveries to market.
Moonshot Breakthrough?
BIO Protocol’s token launch has shone a spotlight on DeSci, illustrating how a new breed of onchain initiatives are aiming to reshape R&D in biotech and beyond.
Outside the BIO ecosystem, other DeSci projects demonstrate complementary strategies for enhancing scientific research through blockchains. From ResearchHub’s open collaboration platform to yesnoerror’s AI-based paper audits and pump.science’s gamified longevity trials, these projects approach the intersection of science and crypto from distinct angles. Taken together, they point to a rapidly evolving DeSci landscape, where shared governance, financial alignment, and real-time data sharing may usher in new breakthroughs.
Whether it’s solving funding bottlenecks, streamlining peer review, or uncovering life-extending molecules, DeSci solutions have bold aims to put discovery in the hands of a broad, motivated community — ultimately accelerating the pace at which the world benefits from the next wave of scientific innovation.
