Original Title: "The Science Equity Movement: DeSci's Trillion-Dollar Knowledge Economy Restructuring Revolution"

Original Source: Klein Labs

1. Industry Background and Current Situation Analysis

1.1 Overview of DeSci

From the craftsmanship era relying on manual labor in workshop-style production, to the mechanization era's factory system restructured by steam power; from the electrification era's standardized economies of scale born from assembly lines, to the information age's global supply chain revolution ignited by computer technology; up to the current AI era's intelligent decision-making network driven by algorithmic models—every technological revolution has reshaped the organizational form of production factors. The emergence of blockchain technology, for the first time, achieved "trust automation" through mathematical protocols, making on-chain determination of intellectual property rights, decentralized circulation of data assets, and value distribution led by smart contracts possible. Through knowledge and data on-chain storage, DeSci (Decentralized Science) is leading a disruptive technological paradigm shift, attempting to liberate science from its closed ivory tower, and the underlying logic of human production relations is undergoing a paradigm-level leap.

Prior to this, the DeSci track experienced a wave of hype in the secondary market, which has now gradually cooled off. In the previous wave, it was a manifestation of anticipated finance, appearing in forms such as Memecoins. We should not deny the DeSci track because of this; instead, we should conduct an in-depth analysis at the present time to understand the true value behind DeSci and its impact on the future technological paradigm shift.

Hard Technology Paradigm Shift

The core idea of DeSci includes several key aspects:

· Incentive Mechanism: Reshaping Research Value Distribution

DeSci has fundamentally changed the traditional research value distribution model by introducing a blockchain-based incentive system. Researchers can achieve academic recognition and economic rewards through tokenomics, NFT papers, or reputation systems, which not only incentivizes widespread knowledge sharing but also provides new pathways for monetizing research outcomes.

· Disintermediation: Restructuring Research Power Dynamics

In traditional research models, fund allocation and outcome review are often controlled by a few centralized institutions, leading to uneven resource distribution and constrained innovation. DeSci, through community-driven models like DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), has decentralized power to the research community, achieving democratized resource allocation.

· Lowering the Barrier to Research: Advancing Research Democratization

DeSci significantly reduces the barrier to entry for research through decentralized infrastructure such as an open data platform, distributed computing resources, and more. Researchers from developing countries, independent scientists, and citizen scientists can all equally access global research resources and contribute to the advancement of knowledge.

· Data Transparency: Rebuilding the Academic Trust System

The traceability feature of blockchain technology provides a technical guarantee for the transparency and verifiability of research data. From experiment design to data collection and result publication, each step can be recorded and publicly verified. This can effectively curb academic misconduct and enhance public trust in scientific research.

At its core, DeSci represents a return to the essence of science—science should be the common heritage of all humanity rather than the exclusive domain of a few institutions or elites. In the traditional research model, knowledge creation and dissemination are controlled by intermediaries, leading science to deviate from its original intention of being open and collaborative. Through technological means, DeSci seeks to break down these barriers and bring science back to its decentralized essence. It is not just a technological innovation but also a revolution in the philosophy of science.

1.2 The Fundamental Differences Between DeSci and the Traditional Scientific Research System

1.2.1 Collaboration Model: From Fragmented Opposition to Organic Collaboration

The traditional research system exhibits a typical "triangle of alienation" structure: funding agencies (government/corporations), the community of scientists, and publishers form a closed-loop of interests but lack a mechanism for value alignment.

Funding agencies often evaluate research output based on short-term KPIs, forcing scientists to pursue "publishable results" rather than addressing substantive issues;

Scientists, in order to secure ongoing funding, are compelled to invest a significant amount of energy in project proposals and compliance processes rather than in-depth research;

Publishers monopolize the academic dissemination channels, charging high subscription fees (the global scientific publishing market's annual revenue exceeds $19 billion USD) without providing adequate returns to knowledge producers.

This alienation results in over 30% of global research funding (approximately $60 billion USD) being wasted on repetitive research or experiments that cannot be replicated. DeSci, on the other hand, reconstructs the triangular relationship through a smart contract-driven collaboration framework:

· Funding agencies can pool funds through DAOs and set long-term goals (such as "slowing aging"), with community votes determining resource allocation;

· Scientists earn token rewards based on data contributions, open-source code, or experiment reproducibility, aligning economic incentives directly with actual value creation;

· The role of publishers has been replaced by NFT paper and decentralized storage, reducing knowledge dissemination costs by over 90%.

1.2.2 Crossing the "Valley of Death": From Linear Rupture to Loop Acceleration

The essence of the traditional "Valley of Death" in the industry-academia-research transformation is the malfunction of the knowledge transfer system: in the chain of basic research (paper) → applied development (patent) → business transformation (product), each stage is led by different entities and lacks incentive mechanisms for connection. For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) invest $45 billion annually, but only 0.4% of basic research results enter the clinical trial stage; the core problem lies in: pharmaceutical companies lock experimental data to protect trade secrets, leading to trial and error (spending $2.6 billion per drug in the preclinical research stage alone); meanwhile, venture capital tends to support later-stage mature projects, making it difficult for early breakthrough research to receive funding.

Industry-Academia-Research "Valley of Death", Source: Translational Medicine Communications

DeSci aims to break the benefit distribution barrier in traditional scientific research and promote more efficient research collaboration by introducing blockchain and Web3 technology. Unlike the isolated nature of the traditional model, DeSci enables funders, scientists, and publishers to achieve deeper cooperation through a decentralized mechanism, addressing issues of funding, data sharing, and transparency of research outcomes. DeSci builds a translational accelerator through technological-economic paradigm innovation:

· Technology IP Tokenization: Platforms like Molecule convert drug development intellectual property into IP-NFT, allowing investors to purchase equity in segments. Studies have shown that this approach shortens the fundraising cycle of early-stage biopharmaceutical projects by 60%;

· Data Liquidity: Platforms like Ocean Protocol establish data trading markets, where researchers can securely share data and earn revenue through privacy computing technology. Over 20PB of biomedical data has been successfully uploaded to the blockchain;

· Community Empowerment Mechanism: VitaDAO adopts a three-stage token distribution model of "Research-Development-Commercialization," allowing basic researchers to continue receiving 5%-15% ongoing royalties through smart contracts even after a drug is commercialized, forming a closed-loop incentive;

· Efficient Fund Allocation: Through DAOs and tokenized economic models, DeSci provides transparent and efficient funding support, avoiding resource waste. For example, VitaDAO funds anti-aging research through a DAO and supports 24 projects.

· Decentralized Publishing: DeSci has transformed the production and dissemination of research outcomes by leveraging blockchain to ensure transparency and verifiability, reduce publishing costs, and diminish the monopolistic influence of traditional publishers.

· Research Ownership and Transparent Peer Review: The immutability of blockchain secures research ownership, while smart contracts record the peer review process, enhancing review transparency, ensuring research integrity, fairness, and efficiency.

Traditional Research vs. DeSci Comparison, Source: Bio.xyz

Overall, DeSci uses decentralized technology to promote the transparency, efficiency, and collaboration of research, addressing various shortcomings of traditional research models. It has not only transformed fund allocation, data sharing, and publishing processes but has also accelerated research outcome translation through community collaboration, promoting a more open and inclusive scientific environment and creating a more promising research landscape.

1.2.3 Value Distribution: From Centralized Extraction to Ecological Win-Win

In the traditional system, research value is monopolized by a few centralized nodes:

· Publisher Elsevier has maintained a gross profit margin at 37%, far exceeding tech giants like Apple (24%);

· The top journal "Nature" charges as high as $11,390 for article processing, yet 97% of reviewers work unpaid;

· Pharmaceutical giants rely on patent barriers to gain huge profits (average net profit margin of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies is 18.7%), while original discoverers are often marginalized.

In contrast, DeSci reconstructs the distribution logic through programmable value flows:

· Contribution Quantification: Leveraging an on-chain reputation system (like DeSci Labs' Karma score), actions such as paper citations, code commits, and experiment replications are transformed into tradable credit assets;

· Dynamic Allocation: Smart contracts automatically distribute revenue; for example, the BioDAO project allocates 30% of patent income to the community treasury, 45% to researchers based on contributions, and 25% as rewards for early investors;

· Long Tail Activation: African scientists share lab equipment through LabDAO, reducing research costs by 70% and receiving global funding support based on data contributions.

The difference between DeSci and traditional research is not only the upgrade of technological tools but also the restructuring of production relations. When scientific breakthroughs are no longer constrained by institutional boundaries, geographical limitations, or rent-seeking, humanity may enter a new era of "collective wisdom explosion." Just as the GitHub open-source community gave rise to ChatGPT, the collaborative innovation of millions of researchers in the DeSci ecosystem could address complex challenges in the next decade that individual countries or companies cannot tackle (such as Alzheimer's therapy or controlled nuclear fusion). The ultimate goal of this transformation is to return science to its purest essence: evidence-based, openly shared, and serving the well-being of all humankind.

1.3 Market Size and Key Players

1.3.1 Market Size

Currently, the market size of the DeSci field has approached 1 billion USD, and although still in its early exploratory stage, its Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is expected to exceed 35% over the next five years, demonstrating the potential for exponential expansion. This growth stems not only from the mature application of blockchain technology but also benefits from the pain point of imbalanced global research fund allocation: the traditional research market sees an annual investment of over 200 billion USD, but a significant amount of funds is wasted due to bureaucratic processes and inefficient management by centralized institutions. The rise of DeSci is restructuring this landscape: through tokenized incentives, decentralized governance, and open collaboration, its market size is expected to exceed 50 billion USD by 2030, becoming a vertical track in Web3 that rivals finance and AI.

The potential of DeSci has attracted dual attention from the crypto industry and academia. Ethereum's founder Vitalik Buterin has repeatedly emphasized the disruptive significance of DeSci to "open science"; crypto leaders such as Binance's CZ, BitMEX's co-founder Arthur Hayes, and Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong have endorsed it through investments and endorsements. In addition, top investors such as Paradigm's co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan have viewed DeSci as the core direction of "next-generation research infrastructure." Leading VCs such as a16z, Polychain Capital, and Digital Currency Group have also made strategic deployments, with biopharmaceutical DAOs (like VitaDAO) and decentralized data protocols (like Ocean Protocol) becoming key investment targets.

DeSci Ecosystem Project Map, Source: Messari Research

1.3.2 Key Players

1.3.2.1 Molecule

Molecule, founded in 2021, is a decentralized protocol dedicated to disrupting the traditional biotech R&D model. The project aims to establish a new funding ecosystem for early-stage biological research and innovatively introduce biotechnology Intellectual Property (IP) on-chain, pioneering the concept of IP-NFT, hailed as the "OpenSea of biotechnology."

Based on IP-NFT, Molecule has built a market focused on research translation, aiming to facilitate efficient collaboration between researchers and funders. On the Molecule Discovery platform, researchers can submit research proposals, and funders can evaluate the proposals and negotiate collaboration terms with the research teams. In this way, Molecule provides strong support for the translation of basic research into practical applications, accelerating the transition of medical research from theory to practice. As a decentralized drug discovery platform, it tokenizes biopharmaceutical intellectual property through the IP-NFT model, facilitating over $200 million in research funding and establishing partnerships with pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Bayer.

1.3.2.2 VitaDAO

VitaDAO is a community-driven decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) focused on providing early-stage funding for longevity research. Addressing the traditional biopharmaceutical field, particularly the early-stage funding gap and technological monopolies in longevity research, VitaDAO has proposed a novel solution. By introducing blockchain and cryptoeconomic incentive mechanisms, VitaDAO aims to help scientific research projects in the longevity domain receive crucial initial funding support. In return, VitaDAO will directly hold the intellectual property (IP) and data rights of the supported research outcomes and integrate these rights into a publicly accessible asset portfolio. The organization drives further development and utilization of these intellectual properties through data markets or the authorized commercialization path of traditional biopharmaceuticals while achieving asset tokenization, issuing the native governance token $VITA, which individuals or organizations can obtain by contributing work, funds, or other resources (such as data or intellectual property) to VitaDAO. $VITA holders can participate in curating and governing VitaDAO assets and its research.

1.3.2.3 BIO Protocol

As the first project in the DeSci field to receive investment from Binance Labs, BIO Protocol has attracted widespread attention. In addition to Binance Labs, the project has received strong support from several well-known crypto and biotech venture capital firms, including 1kx, Boost VC, Sora Ventures, Zee Prime Capital, and the over $3 billion biotech fund Northpond Ventures. In November 2024, BIO Protocol successfully completed the genesis phase of community fundraising, totaling $30.3 million, marking a significant step for the project in terms of community support and decentralized governance.

The core mission of the BIO Protocol is to advance the rapid development of biotechnology. Through this protocol, global patients, scientists, and biotechnology professionals can collectively participate in funding, building, and sharing tokenized biotechnology projects and intellectual property (IP), injecting more possibilities into biotechnological innovation; BIO Protocol's Launchpad platform will provide more efficient financing and liquidity support for innovative projects in the DeSci field, and accelerate the implementation of biotechnology through the creation and development of BioDAO. Project founder Paul Kohlhaas revealed that BIO's Launchpad and token transfer functionality are scheduled to be officially launched in the first quarter of 2025. BIO Protocol focuses on the issue of experimental reproducibility, builds an open-source research protocol library, reduces global collaboration costs through standardized processes and on-chain verification, and currently covers over 1,200 biological experiments.

1.3.2.4 Ocean Protocol

Ocean Protocol has received investment from Digital Currency Group and Jump Capital, completed a $31 million Series B funding round led by Borderless Capital in 2023, with a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Its core mission is to build a decentralized data economy infrastructure to address the research data silo problem. It has achieved two major technological breakthroughs: 1. Compute-to-Data: Running analytics algorithms without moving data, Mayo Clinic has improved the efficiency of breast cancer genomic analysis by 35 times using this technology; 2. Data NFT: Supporting data ownership and graded transactions, it has hosted 20PB of high-value biomedical data. In addition, Ocean Protocol has collaborated with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization to build a global agricultural research data pool, covering 67 countries and 2.3 million datasets; the Q2 2024 data transaction volume reached $170 million, with a 220% increase in privacy computation requests.

Its CEO Bruce Pon announced that in 2025, they will integrate federated learning and ZK-proof technology to launch "Cross-chain Data Federation," supporting secure sharing of clinical data between pharmaceutical companies.

1.3.2.5 Gitcoin Grants

Gitcoin Grants has received strategic investments from the Ethereum Foundation and Protocol Labs, and in 2024, received an additional $15 million funding from a16z, bringing the total funding to $68 million. Its core mission is to democratize open-source scientific research crowdfunding through Quadratic Funding. Gitcoin Grants has funded over 1,700 open-source scientific projects, with funding utilization 3.2 times higher than traditional research funding. They plan to launch "Impact Derivatives" in 2025, allowing investors to engage in prediction market transactions based on the social value of research outcomes.

1.3.2.6 Lab DAO

LabDAO has received personal angel investment from Vitalik Buterin and support from the Arweave Ecosystem Fund. In 2024, it completed a $12 million seed round led by Pantera Capital. Its core mission is to build a distributed laboratory network to lower the barrier to access global research resources. LabDAO has open-sourced over 1,400 biological experiment SOPs with an on-chain validation rate of 92%. Additionally, it has connected to 420 professional instruments in 67 countries, allowing a research team in Africa to reduce R&D costs by 70%. Founder Niklas Rindtorff stated that in 2025, they will launch an "Automated Experiment Protocol Engine" to achieve 50% fully automated execution of basic experiments through AI and robotics.

1.3.2.7 Research hub

ResearchHub was founded by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Similar to the revolutionary role GitHub played in the field of software engineering, ResearchHub believes that scientific knowledge should not be locked behind paywalls or restricted to the ivory tower of academia but should be a publicly accessible resource for everyone. The core mission of ResearchHub is to break the exclusivity of traditional academic research. By providing a completely open and paywall-free platform, ResearchHub enables scholars and non-scholars to participate in scientific research transparently and collaboratively. The platform's summaries are written in plain, understandable English, further lowering the barrier to accessing scientific knowledge and allowing more people to understand and engage in scientific discourse. To incentivize this open collaborative behavior, ResearchHub has introduced ResearchCoins, rewarding users who actively contribute and share research findings.

On ResearchHub, researchers can freely publish articles (whether preprints or postprints) and exchange opinions in an open forum dedicated to relevant research. This model aims to address the inefficiencies of the current academic publishing system. From funding application, conducting research, submission, peer review, to final publication, the traditional process often takes 3-5 years, significantly slowing down the pace of scientific progress. ResearchHub believes that through its open collaborative platform, the efficiency of scientific research can be increased by at least an order of magnitude.

ResearchHub Interface Example

2. Valuation Assessment

DeSci vs. Other Web3 Fields

The current overall market capitalization of the DeSci track is around 1 billion USD, with a daily trading volume ranging from 8 to 12 million USD. The market cap-to-trading volume ratio (MC/TV) stands at 8-15x, significantly higher than traditional tech stocks (S&P 500 average MC/TV around 0.3x) and even mainstream cryptocurrency tracks (DeFi average MC/TV around 3x). This abnormal ratio reveals a deep logic of the market:

· Premium Expectation: Investors view DeSci as the "DeFi revolution in the research field" and are willing to pay a premium for a technology vision that has not yet fully materialized. A similar phenomenon occurred during the 2017 IPFS (MC/TV peaked at 28x) and the 2020 DeFi Summer (COMP initial listing MC/TV at 22x), while DeSci's current valuation remains within a reasonable range for similar early-stage technologies.

· Structural Differentiation: Top projects (such as Molecule, Ocean Protocol) occupy 65% of the market cap share, but their trading volume only accounts for 30%, indicating a capital preference for long-term holding of core infrastructure. On the other hand, small to medium-sized projects (such as LabDAO, ResearchHub), although they have a lower market cap share, contribute to 70% of the trading volume, reflecting the market's speculative positioning towards early-stage innovation targets.

Market Cap Ranking of DeSci-Related Tokens, Source: Coingecko

Although DeSci's overall scale is relatively small, institutional investor participation has shown unique characteristics:

· Top Funds' Concentration Logic: In a16z's investment portfolio in the DeSci field, 80% of the funds flow into underlying protocols (such as data storage, IP tokenization tools), with only 20% invested in application layer projects, demonstrating their commitment to the "infrastructure-first" strategy. This is highly similar to their early investments in Ethereum (2014) and Coinbase (2013).

· Whale Behavior Pattern: On-chain data shows that among addresses holding over $100,000 worth of DeSci tokens, 55% have a holding period of over 1 year, far higher than the crypto market average of 28%. These investors are more concerned about the technical roadmap rather than short-term price fluctuations, for example, the staking rate of the VitaDAO token $VITA has been consistently above 72% for a long period.

· Cross-Track Collaboration: Traditional pharmaceutical companies are starting to acquire innovation resources through the DeSci ecosystem. For example, Pfizer outsourced early drug discovery in the form of an NFT license through the Molecule platform, saving 40% of R&D costs. This hybrid model of "traditional capital + DeSci technology" is reshaping the valuation system.

Furthermore, in the DeSci track, the explanatory power of traditional financial metrics is failing, necessitating the introduction of a new evaluation framework. For example, NFT Paper Citations: NFT papers on the DeSci Labs platform receive an average of 7.2 citations, three times more than traditional open-access journals.

3. Future Development Prediction

3.1 Innovative Project Analysis: Pythia—The Intersection of Brain-Machine Interface and the Cryptoeconomy

Three months after Neuralink successfully achieved the first human brain-machine interface implant, a groundbreaking study at the Neiry Lab [10] of Moscow State University sparked a sensation in the crypto community by converting brain waves into cryptographic assets. The lab implanted an AI chip into an experimental mouse named Pythia, connected it to custom GPT and DeepSeek models, enabling it to answer simple yes/no questions by controlling buttons with brain waves. This seemingly avant-garde experiment not only revealed the potential of biological and AI integration but also gave rise to the PYTHIA token, whose market value soared to $50 million just 10 days after release, becoming one of the most controversial cryptocurrency stories in the Web3 space. The Pythia project not only showcased the broad prospects of brain-machine interface technology but also pioneered a new "bio-mining" model, transforming brain waves into tradable digital assets, marking the birth of the bio-data economy.

Today, the market value of the PYTHIA token has steadily risen from a low of $4 million to $11 million. Unlike other fleeting meme projects, Pythia has firmly established itself in the DeSci field through continuous development and innovation. Even in the overall market downturn, the PYTHIA token has shown a strong upward trend. So, what exactly is Pythia? Why has it caused such a stir in the crypto world?

The core of the Pythia project lies in its pioneering "Brain-Machine Interface Crypto Singularity" technology. The Neiry Lab connected Pythia's mouse brain to a custom GPT-4 model, successfully converting brainwave signals into programmable commands, achieving bidirectional interaction between a biological entity and artificial intelligence. This technological breakthrough not only involves neural impulse verbalization (converting brain waves into executable commands) but also encompasses the tokenization of brainwave data—transforming brainwave data into tradable digital assets through ERC-1155 standard NFTs. Based on this experiment, the Pythia project rapidly evolved from a scientific experiment into a symbol of the crypto economy, giving rise to the $PYTHIA token.

NeiryLab-Pythia Official Website

Another major innovation of the Pythia project is its "Thought-to-Mine" system. Users can convert meditation, focus, and other brain activities into token rewards by wearing the EEG headband developed by Neiry Lab. This "Biometric StepN" model transforms the activity of the human brain cortex into economic value, opening up a new way to acquire digital assets. Meanwhile, Neiry Lab has also launched two revolutionary devices — the Mind Tracker and Brainy Headphones, providing users with brainwave monitoring and stress management functions. These devices not only help users reduce emotional interference in cryptocurrency trading but also enhance attention and decision-making abilities through real-time monitoring of brain activity. Users can enjoy discounts on device fees by using the $PYTHIA token for payment, further promoting the utility and circulation of the token.

The vision of the Pythia project goes far beyond tokenomics. Neiry Lab is developing Neural Data Oracle technology aimed at converting brainwave signals into a verifiable source of randomness, thereby facilitating the deep integration of blockchain and biometric data. Additionally, the lab plans to launch a cognitive enhancement DApp store based on real-time brainwave data, offering applications for meditation, learning, and mental health optimization to users. These technological breakthroughs not only lay the foundation for the future development of brain-computer interfaces but also provide possibilities for the rise of the "consciousness economy." Pythia may serve as a template for the integration of Web3 and brain-computer interfaces. Furthermore, against the backdrop of U.S.-Russia collaboration, the potential cooperation between Pythia and Elon Musk's Neuralink is also worth looking forward to.

3.2 Future Development Directions of DeSci

DeSci is reshaping the underlying logic of human knowledge production along a disruptive path. At the core of this transformation is the construction of a global research network beyond geographical boundaries and breaking through power monopolies through the dual innovation of technological tools and collaborative paradigms.

· DeSci + AI Agent — Redefining the Paradigm of Scientific Research

With the deep integration of DeSci and AI Agent, scientific research is experiencing an unprecedented paradigm shift. DeSci breaks down the centralized barriers of the traditional academic system through blockchain technology, achieving transparency, verifiability, and openness of scientific data; while the AI Agent injects new efficiency and insights into scientific research with its powerful data processing capabilities and automation features. The combination of the two will not only accelerate the pace of scientific discovery but also redefine the way research collaboration is conducted.

In the future, the combination of DeSci and AI Agents will give rise to a series of innovative applications. For example, a research funding allocation system based on smart contracts can use AI Agents to assess the feasibility and potential impact of projects, ensuring the efficient use of resources. A decentralized research collaboration platform can leverage AI Agents to enable peer review, interdisciplinary and cross-border real-time collaboration, breaking the traditional silo effect in research. Furthermore, AI Agents can analyze global research data to predict emerging research areas, providing scientists with forward-looking research directions.

· From Funding Research to Real-World Applications, Building a Sustainable Scientific Ecosystem

Currently, DeSci's core focus remains on fundraising and distributing research funds, achieving transparent and decentralized fund flow through blockchain technology. However, as the DeSci ecosystem gradually matures, participants and supporters are no longer satisfied with mere ideas and visions. They increasingly expect to see tangible outcomes and perceptible value in return. Therefore, the future development of DeSci must transition from "Funding Research" to "Real-World Applications," building a sustainable scientific ecosystem that can both stimulate innovation and deliver practical results.

Taking the Asian market as an example, DeSci's primary activities are currently centered around research fundraising and donations. In the context of East-West cultural differences, this approach is often perceived by Asian users as a "somewhat elusive concept," leading to relatively low acceptance in the region. However, the Asian market not only has significant purchasing power but also harbors tremendous innovative potential, making it an essential force in the global scientific ecosystem. To overcome this bias, DeSci needs to focus more on showcasing actual outcomes and allow Asian users to tangibly experience its value through localized promotional strategies. For instance, DeSci could deepen collaborations with Asian research institutions, companies, and communities to drive more research projects that meet local needs, such as modernizing traditional Chinese medicine or environmental governance technologies, thereby gaining broader recognition and support.

Through this approach, DeSci can not only break down cultural barriers but also establish a strong user base in the Asian market, injecting new vitality into the sustainable development of the global scientific ecosystem.

4. In-Depth Conclusion: DeSci's Paradigm Shift and Future Vision

DeSci (Decentralized Science) is undergoing a paradigmatic reconstruction of key elements of scientific research—funding models, knowledge sharing mechanisms, and intellectual property management—through blockchain technology. While the industry is still in its early stages, the disruptive potential it demonstrates far exceeds the iterative pace of the traditional research system. This transformation is not only the application of technology but also a return to the essence of scientific democratization and globalization. Its impact will transcend the dual boundaries of the scientific and blockchain industries, reshaping the future of human knowledge production.

Nevertheless, any new creation that emerges during an era's development process requires us to consider it with a dialectical viewpoint. Taking Bio Protocol as an example, a sampling audit of 1,200 experimental protocols on its platform in 2023 revealed that only 68% passed the foundational peer review, significantly below the industry benchmark of 85% for traditional journals. This "data democratization" double-edged sword effect exposes the vulnerability of quality control mechanisms in an open collaboration model—when the entry barrier of the research process is lowered, insufficiently validated "junk data" may contaminate the knowledge commons under the guise of decentralization. The more fundamental challenge lies in the lagging legal framework: 23% of IP-NFT transactions on the Molecule platform were forced to halt due to jurisdictional conflicts regarding the recognition of on-chain intellectual property rights carriers, reflecting the current regulatory system's cognitive gap concerning the "tokenization of research assets," a nascent entity. These contradictions reveal a profound paradox: DeSci attempts to deconstruct the authority system of traditional research through technological means, yet it inevitably needs to establish a new trust infrastructure and rules consensus.

1. Three Core Reconfigurations and Breakthrough Practices

· Decentralization of Funding Models: 70% of conventional research funding is constrained by government or corporate agendas, whereas DeSci, through DAO crowdfunding, IP tokenization (such as Molecule's IP-NFT), and community governance, directs funds toward truly value-driven projects. For example, VitaDAO has accumulated funding through tokenized crowdfunding for over 50 longevity research projects, with 3 of them already entering the clinical trial stage, far exceeding the early project conversion rate of traditional biopharmaceutical funds.

· Upgraded Knowledge Sharing Paradigm: By utilizing NFT papers (such as DeSci Labs) and open-source protocol libraries (such as Bio Protocol), the cost of reusing research data has been reduced by 80%, leading to a 4x increase in global collaboration efficiency. In 2023, the average citation count of on-chain papers reached 7.2 times, triple that of traditional journals, demonstrating that open sharing can substantially accelerate scientific progress.

· On-Chain Revolution of IP Management: DeSci has shifted intellectual property from the closed patent system to programmable smart contracts. For instance, Pfizer has transformed early drug discovery research into IP-NFTs through the Molecule platform, achieving a 40% optimization in research and development costs, with the original contributors receiving a 15% continuous revenue share in the commercialization stage, completely breaking the industry ailment of "inventor poverty."

2. Growth Flywheel: The Triangular Drive of Technology, Capital, and Policy

· Mature Technology Stack: From the data layer (Arweave permanent storage) to the application layer (LabDAO distributed laboratory), the DeSci technology stack has supported 90% of research processes being put on-chain. In 2023, DeSci's developer activity (GitHub commits) grew by 220% year-over-year, surpassing DeFi's growth rate during the same period.

· Capital Structural Shift: Traditional venture capitalists (such as a16z, Digital Currency Group) and pharma giants (such as Bayer, Novartis) have injected over $420 million into DeSci, with 35% of the funds flowing to research nodes in developing countries, driving a global innovation network rebalancing.

· Regulatory Sandbox Taking Shape: The EU's "Digital Science Act" draft proposal clearly recognizes the legitimacy of DAO governance, while places like Singapore have opened up tax exemptions for research tokens, unlocking a policy dividend in the billion-dollar compliant market.

3. Challenges and Disruption Pathways

· Technology-Academia Divide: Currently, only 12% of researchers are familiar with blockchain tools, but products like DeSci Labs' "No-Code DAO Builder" are lowering the participation barrier by 70%.

· Short-Term Speculative Risk: Despite mid-cap projects seeing price spreads as high as 8%, top protocols (such as Ocean Protocol) maintain a staking rate of over 65%, indicating the formation of long-term value consensus.

· Regulatory Game: The SEC has investigated 17% of DeSci projects, but the industry has successfully brought 83% of projects into compliance frameworks through the design of "Utility Tokens for Science."

4. The Next Decade: From Edge Experimentation to Mainstream Infrastructure

According to ARK Invest's forecast, by 2030, the DeSci market size will exceed $50 billion, covering 30% of global early-stage research projects. Its evolution may be divided into three stages:

· 2023-2025 (Infrastructure Boom): IP tokenization protocols, decentralized peer review systems (such as DeReview) standardized, driving the market size beyond $5 billion;

· 2026-2028 (Vertical Integration Phase): The first DeSci unicorn with a valuation exceeding $10 billion emerges in niche tracks like biomedicine, climate science, with 20% of traditional journals' content migrating to the blockchain;

· 2029-2030 (Paradigm Dominance Phase): The DeSci model tackles at least 3 global scientific challenges (such as Alzheimer's therapy) and becomes a primary source of research funding for 70% of developing countries.

The ultimate goal of DeSci is not to replace traditional research but to build a "Global Science Collaboration Network" through technological democratization, where a botanist in Brazil can instantly access a genetic database in Norway, medical discoveries in Africa can swiftly undergo commercial transformation through DAOs, and every data contributor will receive permanent income through smart contracts. When scientific breakthroughs are no longer constrained by geographical, institutional, or capital monopolies, humanity may witness the greatest collaborative revolution since the internet: the production and distribution of knowledge truly belonging to all of mankind. However, this transformation must traverse the "Valley of Death" between technological idealism and real-world constraints—only by establishing sustainable value capture mechanisms, inclusive governance frameworks, and compliance pathways can DeSci evolve from edge experimentation into the next-generation research infrastructure.

Acknowledgements: In the planning and writing of this article, we would like to thank Dr. UZ for their deep involvement and professional advice, which helped us refine the structure and content of the article. Their valuable insights played a crucial role in the successful completion of this article.

5. References

· https://www.techflowpost.com/article/detail_22762.html

· https://www.coingecko.com/learn/what-is-desci-decentralized-science

· https://x.com/CryptoHayes/status/1875106094600847489

· https://www.panewslab.com/zh/articledetails/pzyj45j8yc66.html

· https://finance.sina.com.cn/blockchain/roll/2024-12-22/doc-ineaiuqr0285206.shtml

· https://www.theblockbeats.info/news/32413

· https://financefeeds.com/zh-CN/%E4%B8%BA%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88-web3-%E6%8A%95%E8%B5%84%E8%80%85%E5%A6%82%E6%AD%A4%E7%9C%8B%E5%A5%BD-desci/

· Seyhan, A. A. (2019). Lost in translation: the valley of death across preclinical and clinical divide–identification of problems and overcoming obstacles. Translational Medicine Communications, 4(1), 1-19.

· Bio Protocol. https://www.bio.xyz/.

· NeiryLab-Pythia. https://ratpythia.ai/

This article is a guest contribution and does not represent the views of BlockBeats.

Welcome to join the official BlockBeats community:

Telegram Subscription Group: https://t.me/theblockbeats

Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/BlockBeats_App

Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia