The Scientific Equity Movement: The Trillion-Dollar Knowledge Economy Reconstruction Revolution of DeSci

1. Industry Background and Current Situation Analysis

1.1 Overview of DeSci

From the workshop-style production relying on human collaboration in the handicraft era, to the factory system restructured by steam power in the mechanization era; from the standardized scale economy spawned by assembly lines in the electrification era, to the global supply chain revolution triggered by computer technology in the information age; until the current AI era driven by algorithm models and intelligent decision-making networks------each technological revolution reshapes the organizational form of production factors. The emergence of blockchain technology has achieved "trust automation" for the first time through mathematical protocols, making on-chain confirmation of intellectual property rights, decentralized circulation of data assets, and value distribution dominated by smart contracts possible. Through knowledge on-chain and data on-chain storage, DeSci (Decentralized Science) is leading a disruptive technological paradigm revolution, attempting to liberate science from the closed ivory tower, and the underlying logic of human production relations is experiencing a paradigm-level leap.

Previously, the DeSci track experienced a wave of enthusiasm in the secondary market, which has gradually cooled. In the previous wave, it was a financial manifestation of expectations, appearing in forms like Memecoin, but we cannot deny the DeSci track because of this. On the contrary, we should conduct an in-depth analysis at this moment to understand the true value behind DeSci and its future impact on the transfer of technological paradigms.

Hard Technology Paradigm Shift

The core concepts of DeSci include the following key aspects:

1. Incentive Mechanism: Reshaping Research Value Distribution

DeSci fundamentally changes the value distribution model in traditional research by introducing a blockchain-based incentive system. Researchers can gain academic recognition and economic returns through token economies, NFT papers, or reputation systems, which not only incentivizes the widespread sharing of knowledge but also provides new pathways for the monetization of research results.

2. Decentralization: Restructuring the Power Structure of Research

In traditional research models, funding distribution and results review are often controlled by a few centralized institutions, leading to uneven resource allocation and limited innovation. DeSci decentralizes power to the research community through community-driven models like DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), achieving democratic distribution of resources.

3. Lowering Research Barriers: Promoting Research Democratization

DeSci significantly lowers the participation threshold for research through decentralized infrastructure (such as open data platforms, distributed computing resources, etc.). Researchers from developing countries, independent scientists, and citizen scientists can all access global research resources equally and contribute.

4. Data Transparency: Rebuilding the Academic Trust System

The traceability feature of blockchain technology provides technical assurance for the transparency and verifiability of research data. From experimental design to data collection and results publication, every link can be recorded and publicly verified. This effectively curbs academic misconduct and enhances public trust in scientific research.

The essence of DeSci is a return to the nature of science------science should be a common wealth of all humanity, not an exclusive domain of a few institutions or elites. In the traditional research model, the creation and dissemination of knowledge are controlled by layers of intermediaries, causing science to gradually deviate from its original intention of openness and collaboration. DeSci attempts to break these barriers through technological means, allowing science to return to its decentralized essence. It is not only a technological innovation but also a revolution in scientific philosophy.

1.2 Essential Differences Between DeSci and Traditional Scientific Research Systems

1.2.1 Collaboration Model: From Fragmentation and Confrontation to Organic Coordination

The traditional research system presents a typical "triangular fragmentation" structure: funding agencies (government/business), groups of scientists, and publishers form a closed loop of interests, lacking a value alignment mechanism.

• Funders often assess research output through short-term KPIs, forcing scientists to pursue "publishable results" rather than solving substantive problems;

• Scientists, in order to secure ongoing funding, must invest a significant amount of energy into project applications and compliance processes, rather than in-depth research;

• Publishers monopolize academic dissemination channels, charging high subscription fees (the global research publishing market generates over $19 billion annually), without providing reasonable returns to knowledge producers.

This fragmentation leads to over 30% of global research funding (approximately $60 billion) wasted on repetitive research or irreproducible experiments each year. DeSci reconstructs the tripartite relationship through a collaboration framework driven by smart contracts:

• Funders can pool funds through DAOs and set long-term goals (such as "delaying aging"), with community voting determining resource allocation;

• Scientists receive token rewards for data contributions, code open-sourcing, or experimental reproduction, linking economic returns directly to actual value creation;

• The role of publishers is replaced by NFT papers and decentralized storage, reducing knowledge dissemination costs by over 90%.

1.2.2 Crossing the "Valley of Death": From Linear Fragmentation to Closed-Loop Acceleration

The traditional "valley of death" phenomenon in the transformation of industry-university-research is essentially a failure of the knowledge transfer system: the chain from basic research (papers) → application development (patents) → commercial transformation (products) is dominated by different entities at each stage, lacking incentive mechanisms for connection. For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) invests $45 billion annually, but only 0.4% of basic research results enter clinical trials; the core issue lies in: pharmaceutical companies lock experimental data to protect trade secrets, leading to repeated trial and error (with $2.6 billion spent per drug just in the preclinical research phase); at the same time, venture capital tends to favor later-stage mature projects, making it difficult for early breakthrough research to receive support.

The "Valley of Death" in Industry-University-Research, Source: Translational Medicine Communications

DeSci aims to break the barriers of interest distribution in traditional research by introducing blockchain and Web3 technologies, promoting more efficient research collaboration. Unlike the island-like nature of traditional models, DeSci enables funders, scientists, and publishers to achieve deeper cooperation through decentralized mechanisms, addressing issues of funding, data sharing, and transparency of research results. DeSci constructs a transformation accelerator through technological-economic paradigm innovation:

• Tokenization of technology IP: For example, the Molecule platform converts drug development intellectual property into IP-NFTs, allowing investors to purchase rights in segments. Research shows that this approach shortens the financing cycle for early biopharmaceutical projects by 60%;

• Data liquidity: Platforms like Ocean Protocol establish data trading markets, allowing researchers to securely share data and earn revenue through privacy computing technology, with over 20PB of biomedical data already on-chain;

• Community support mechanisms: VitaDAO employs a three-stage token distribution model of "research-development-commercialization," allowing basic researchers to continue earning 5%-15% of ongoing revenue through smart contracts after a drug is launched, forming a closed-loop incentive.

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

• Decentralized publishing: DeSci changes the way research results are produced and disseminated, ensuring transparency and verifiability through blockchain, reducing publishing costs, and diminishing the monopolistic influence of traditional publishers.

• Ownership of research results and transparent review: The immutability of blockchain ensures the ownership of research results, and smart contracts record the review process, enhancing review transparency and ensuring fairness and efficiency in research.

Comparison of Traditional Research and DeSci, Source: Bio.xyz

In summary, DeSci promotes the transparency, efficiency, and collaboration of research through decentralized technology, addressing various shortcomings of traditional research models. It not only changes funding distribution, data sharing, and the publishing process but also accelerates the transformation of research results through community cooperation, pushing science to be more open and inclusive, creating a more promising research environment.

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 margin of 37% for a long time, far exceeding that of tech giants like Apple (24%);

• The processing fee for a single paper in the top journal Nature can reach $11,390, yet 97% of reviewers work for free;

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

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

• Contribution quantification: Utilizing on-chain reputation systems (such as the Karma score from DeSci Labs), behaviors like paper citations, code submissions, and experimental reproductions are transformed into tradable credit assets;

• Dynamic distribution: Smart contracts automatically allocate revenue, for example, the BioDAO project injects 30% of patent income into the community treasury, 45% is distributed to researchers based on contributions, and 25% rewards early investors;

• Long-tail activation: African scientists share laboratory equipment through LabDAO, reducing research costs by 70%, and receive global funding support through data contributions.

The difference between DeSci and traditional research is not only an upgrade of technical tools but also a reconstruction of production relations. When scientific breakthroughs are no longer constrained by institutional boundaries, geographical limitations, or power rent-seeking, humanity may enter a new era of "collective intelligence explosion." Just as the GitHub open-source community gave rise to ChatGPT, the collaborative innovation of millions of researchers in the DeSci ecosystem may solve complex problems that individual countries or enterprises cannot tackle in the next decade (such as therapies for Alzheimer's disease or controllable nuclear fusion). The ultimate goal of this transformation is to return science to its purest essence: evidence-based, open sharing, and serving the welfare of all humanity.

1.3 Market Size and Major Participants

1.3.1 Market Size

Currently, the market size of the DeSci field is approaching $1 billion. Although it is still in the early exploration stage, its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is expected to exceed 35% in the next five years, demonstrating exponential expansion potential. This growth is not only due to the mature application of blockchain technology but also benefits from the pain points of imbalanced global research funding distribution: the traditional research market invests over $200 billion annually, but a large amount of funding is wasted due to bureaucratic processes and the inefficient management of centralized institutions. The rise of DeSci is reconstructing this pattern: through tokenized incentives, decentralized governance, and open-source collaboration, its market size is expected to exceed $50 billion by 2030, becoming a vertical track in the Web3 field alongside finance and AI.

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

DeSci Ecosystem Project Map, Source: Messari Research

1.3.2 Major Players

1.3.2.1 Molecule

Founded in 2021, Molecule is a decentralized protocol aimed at disrupting traditional biotechnology research and development models. The project aims to establish a new financing ecosystem for early biological research and innovatively bring biotechnology intellectual property (IP) on-chain, pioneering the concept of IP-NFTs, and is hailed as the "OpenSea of the biotechnology field."

Based on IP-NFTs, Molecule has built a market for translational research, aiming to facilitate efficient connections between researchers and funders. On the Molecule Discovery platform, researchers can submit research proposals, and funders can evaluate proposals and negotiate collaboration terms with research teams. In this way, Molecule provides strong support for the transformation of basic research into practical applications, accelerating the rapid implementation of medical research from theory to practice. As a decentralized drug development platform, it has facilitated over $200 million in research funding flow through the IP-NFT model and established collaborations with pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Bayer.

1.3.2.2 VitaDAO

VitaDAO is a community-driven decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) focused on providing early funding support for longevity research. VitaDAO proposes a new solution to the traditional biopharmaceutical field, particularly the early funding shortages and technological monopolies in longevity research. By introducing blockchain and cryptoeconomic incentive mechanisms, VitaDAO aims to help scientific research projects in the longevity field secure critical initial funding support. In return, VitaDAO directly holds the intellectual property (IP) and data rights of the supported research results and integrates these rights into a publicly accessible asset portfolio. The organization promotes the further development and utilization of these intellectual properties through data markets or traditional biopharmaceutical licensing and commercialization pathways while achieving asset tokenization and issuing a native governance token------$VITA. Individuals or organizations can earn $VITA tokens by contributing work, funding, or other resources (such as data or intellectual property). Holders of $VITA can participate in the curation and governance of VitaDAO's assets and 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 venture capital firms in the crypto and biotechnology fields, including 1kx, Boost VC, Sora Ventures, Zee Prime Capital, and the Northpond Ventures biotechnology fund, which exceeds $3 billion in scale. In November 2024, BIO Protocol successfully completed its genesis phase community financing, totaling $30.3 million, marking an important step in community support and decentralized governance for the project.

The core mission of BIO Protocol is to promote the rapid development of biotechnology. Through this protocol, patients, scientists, and biotechnology professionals worldwide can collaboratively fund, build, and share tokenized biotechnology projects and intellectual properties (IP), injecting more possibilities for innovation in the biotechnology field; the Launchpad platform of BIO Protocol will provide more efficient financing and liquidity support for innovative projects in the DeSci field and accelerate the application of biotechnology through the promotion of BioDAO's creation and development. Project founder Paul Kohlhaas revealed that the Launchpad and token transfer functions of BIO are planned to be officially launched in the first quarter of 2025. BIO Protocol focuses on the issue of experimental reproducibility, building an open-source research protocol library, and reducing global collaboration costs through standardized processes and on-chain verification, currently covering over 1,200 biological experiments.

1.3.2.4 Ocean Protocol

Ocean Protocol has received joint investments from Digital Currency Group and Jump Capital, completing a $31 million Series B financing led by Borderless Capital in 2023, with a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Its core mission is to build decentralized data economic infrastructure to solve the problem of research data silos. It has achieved two major technological breakthroughs: 1. Compute-to-Data: running analytical algorithms without moving data, which has improved the efficiency of breast cancer genomic analysis by 35 times at the Mayo Clinic; 2. Data NFTization: supporting data set confirmation and tiered trading, with 20PB of high-value biomedical data already hosted. Additionally, Ocean Protocol has collaborated with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to build a global agricultural research data pool, covering 2.3 million datasets across 67 countries; in Q2 2024, data trading volume reached $170 million, with privacy computing requests increasing by 220% month-over-month.

CEO Bruce Pon announced that in 2025, it will integrate federated learning and ZK-proof technology to launch "cross-chain data federation," supporting secure sharing of clinical data among pharmaceutical companies.

1.3.2.5 Gitcoin Grants

Gitcoin Grants has received strategic investments from the Ethereum Foundation and Protocol Labs, with an additional $15 million funding from a16z in 2024, bringing the total financing amount to $68 million. Its core mission is to democratize open-source research crowdfunding through quadratic funding. Gitcoin Grants has funded over 1,700 open-source science projects, with a funding utilization rate 3.2 times higher than traditional research funds. It plans to launch "impact derivatives" in 2025, allowing investors to engage in prediction market trading based on the social value of research results.

1.3.2.6 Lab DAO

LabDAO has received personal angel investment from Vitalik Buterin and support from the Arweave ecosystem fund, completing a $12 million seed round led by Pantera Capital in 2024. Its core mission is to create a distributed laboratory network to lower the barriers to accessing global research resources. LabDAO has already achieved open-sourcing over 1,400 biological experiment SOPs, with an on-chain verification pass rate of 92%; it has also connected to 420 professional instruments across 67 countries, allowing African teams to reduce R&D costs by 70%. Founder Niklas Rindtorff stated that in 2025, it will launch an "automated experimental protocol engine" to achieve 50% full automation 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 of GitHub in software engineering, ResearchHub believes that scientific records should not be confined behind paywalls or limited to academic ivory towers but should be a public resource accessible to all. The core mission of ResearchHub is to break the closed nature of traditional academic research. By providing a completely open platform without paywalls, ResearchHub allows both scholars and non-scholars to participate in scientific research in a transparent and collaborative manner. Summaries on the platform are written in plain English, further lowering the barriers to accessing scientific knowledge, enabling more people to understand and engage in scientific discussions. To incentivize this open collaborative behavior, ResearchHub introduces ResearchCoin, rewarding users who actively contribute and share research results.

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

Example of ResearchHub Interface

2. Value Assessment

Comparison of DeSci with Other Web3 Fields

Currently, the overall market value of the DeSci track is approximately $1 billion, with an average daily trading volume maintained in the range of $8 million to $12 million, and the market cap/trading volume ratio (MC/TV) reaching 8-15 times, significantly higher than traditional tech stocks (the average MC/TV of the S&P 500 is about 0.3 times) and even mainstream cryptocurrency tracks (the average MC/TV of DeFi is about 3 times). This abnormal ratio reveals the deeper logic of the market:

1. Expected premium: Investors view DeSci as the "DeFi revolution in the research field," willing to pay a premium for a technology vision that has not yet fully materialized. A similar phenomenon occurred in 2017 with IPFS (MC/TV peak reached 28 times) and during the DeFi Summer in 2020 (COMP's initial MC/TV was 22 times), while DeSci's current valuation remains within a reasonable range for similar technologies in their early stages.

2. Structural differentiation: Leading projects (such as Molecule and Ocean Protocol) account for 65% of the market value share, but their trading volume only accounts for 30%, indicating that capital is more inclined to hold core infrastructure for the long term; while smaller projects (such as LabDAO and ResearchHub) have a low market value share but contribute 70% of trading volume, reflecting speculative layouts in the market for early innovative targets.

Market Value Ranking of DeSci-related Tokens, Source: Coingecko

Although the overall scale of DeSci is small, the participation of institutional investors has revealed unique characteristics:

1. Heavy investment logic of leading funds: In DeSci's investment portfolio, a16z directs 80% of its funds to underlying protocols (such as data storage and IP tokenization tools), with only 20% invested in application layer projects, showing its adherence to a "infrastructure-first" strategy. This is highly similar to their early investments in Ethereum (2014) and Coinbase (2013).

2. Behavior patterns of large whales: On-chain data shows that 55% of addresses holding over $100,000 in DeSci tokens have held their positions for more than a year, far exceeding the average of 28% in the cryptocurrency market. These investors are more focused on technological roadmaps rather than short-term price fluctuations, for example, the staking rate of VitaDAO token $VITA has consistently remained above 72%.

3. Cross-track synergy: Traditional pharmaceutical companies are beginning to acquire innovative resources through the DeSci ecosystem, such as Pfizer outsourcing early drug discovery through the Molecule platform in the form of NFT licenses, saving 40% in R&D costs. This hybrid model of "traditional capital + DeSci technology" is reshaping the valuation system.

Additionally, in the DeSci track, the explanatory power of traditional financial indicators is failing, necessitating the introduction of new assessment frameworks. For example: the citation frequency of paper NFTs: NFT papers on the DeSci Labs platform average 7.2 citations, three times that of traditional open-access journals.

3. Future Development Forecast

3.1 Innovative Project Analysis: Pythia------The Intersection of Brain-Machine Interfaces and Cryptoeconomics

Three months after Neuralink successfully achieved the first human brain-machine interface implant, a groundbreaking study from the Neiry Laboratory at Moscow State University [10] converted brain waves into crypto assets, quickly causing a stir in the crypto community. The laboratory implanted an AI chip into an experimental mouse named Pythia and connected it to customized GPT and DeepSeek models, enabling it to control a button to answer simple yes/no questions through brain waves. This seemingly advanced experiment not only reveals the potential for the integration of biology and artificial intelligence but also gave rise to the PYTHIA token, which soared to a market value of $50 million within just ten days of its release, becoming one of the most controversial cryptocurrency stories in the Web3 space. The Pythia project not only showcases the vast prospects of brain-machine interface technology but also pioneers a new "biological mining" model, converting brain waves into tradable digital assets, marking the birth of the biological 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 successfully established a foothold in the DeSci field through continuous development and innovation. Even in a generally sluggish market, the PYTHIA token continues to show strong upward momentum. So, what exactly is Pythia? Why has it stirred such waves in the crypto world?

The core of the Pythia project lies in its pioneering "brain-machine interface cryptographic singularity" technology. The Neiry Laboratory connects the brain of the experimental mouse Pythia with a customized GPT-4 model, successfully converting brain wave signals into programmable instructions, achieving bidirectional interaction between biological entities and artificial intelligence. This technological breakthrough includes not only the linguistic conversion of neural pulses (transforming brain waves into executable instructions) but also the assetization of brain wave data------transforming brain wave data into tradable digital assets through NFTs based on the ERC-1155 standard. Based on this experiment, the Pythia project quickly evolved from a scientific experiment into a symbol of the cryptoeconomy, giving rise to the $PYTHIA token.

NeiryLab-Pythia Official Website

Another major innovation of the Pythia project is its "thinking is mining" system. Users can wear EEG headbands developed by the Neiry Laboratory to convert brain activities such as meditation and focus into token rewards. This "biological StepN" model transforms the activities of the human cerebral cortex into economic value, creating a new way to acquire digital assets. Meanwhile, the Neiry Laboratory has launched two revolutionary devices------Mind Tracker and Brainy headphones, providing users with brain wave 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. Using $PYTHIA tokens to pay for device costs also offers discounts, further promoting the token's utility and circulation.

The vision of the Pythia project extends far beyond the token economy. The Neiry Laboratory is developing Neural Data Oracle technology, aiming to convert brain wave signals into verifiable sources of randomness, thereby promoting deep integration of blockchain and biological data. Additionally, the laboratory plans to launch a cognitive enhancement DApp store based on real-time brain wave data, providing applications for meditation, learning, and mental health optimization. These technological breakthroughs not only lay the foundation for the future development of brain-machine interfaces but also offer the possibility for the rise of the "consciousness economy." Pythia may become a model for the integration of Web3 and brain-machine interfaces. Furthermore, against the backdrop of US-Russia cooperation, the potential collaboration 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. The core of this transformation lies in building a global research network that transcends geographical boundaries and breaks through power monopolies through dual innovations in technological tools and collaborative paradigms.

3.3.1 DeSci + AI Agent------Reshaping the Paradigm of Scientific Research

With the deep integration of DeSci and AI Agents, scientific research is ushering in an unprecedented paradigm shift. DeSci breaks down the centralized barriers of traditional academic systems through blockchain technology, achieving transparency, verifiability, and openness of scientific data; while AI Agents, with their powerful data processing capabilities and automation functions, inject new efficiency and insights into scientific research. The combination of the two will not only accelerate the process of scientific discovery but also redefine the way research collaboration occurs.

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 efficient use of resources; decentralized research collaboration platforms can leverage AI Agents to achieve peer review and real-time collaboration across disciplines and regions, breaking the island effect of traditional research; even AI Agents can analyze global research data to predict emerging research fields, providing scientists with forward-looking research directions.

3.3.2 From Funding Research to Practical Applications, Building a Sustainable Scientific Ecosystem

Currently, DeSci's core focus remains on the fundraising and distribution of research funding, achieving transparency and decentralization of funding flows through blockchain technology. However, as the DeSci ecosystem matures, participants and supporters are no longer satisfied with mere concepts and visions; they expect to see tangible results and perceivable value returns. Therefore, the future development of DeSci must transition from "Funding Research" to "Practical Applications," building a sustainable scientific ecosystem that can stimulate innovative vitality while achieving actual outputs.

Taking the Asian market as an example, DeSci's main activities are currently concentrated in research fundraising and donation areas. This model is often viewed by Asian users as a "somewhat illusory concept" against the backdrop of cultural differences between the East and West, leading to relatively low acceptance in this region. However, the Asian market not only possesses strong purchasing power but also harbors immense innovative potential, making it an important force in the global scientific ecosystem. To reverse this bias, DeSci needs to focus more on showcasing actual results and implement localized promotion strategies to help Asian users tangibly feel its value. For instance, DeSci can collaborate deeply with Asian research institutions, enterprises, and communities to promote more research projects that meet local needs, such as the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine and environmental governance technologies, thereby gaining broader recognition and support.

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

4. In-Depth Summary: The Paradigm Revolution of DeSci and Future Outlook

DeSci (Decentralized Science) is undergoing a disruptive reconstruction of the core aspects of scientific research------funding models, knowledge sharing mechanisms, and intellectual property management------through blockchain technology. Although the current industry scale is still in its early stages, its explosive potential has far surpassed the iterative speed of traditional research systems. This transformation is not only an application of technology but also a return to the essence of scientific democratization and globalization, with impacts that will penetrate the dual boundaries of the scientific community and the blockchain industry, reshaping the future of human knowledge production.

Nevertheless, any new thing born in the process of era development requires us to view it dialectically. Taking Bio Protocol as an example, a sampling audit of 1,200 experimental protocols on its platform in 2023 showed that only 68% passed basic peer review, significantly lower than the industry benchmark of 85% for traditional journals. This "data democratization" dual-edged sword effect exposes the fragility of quality control mechanisms in open collaborative models------when the entry threshold for research processes is lowered, unverified "garbage data" may pollute the knowledge commons in the name 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 conflicts in jurisdiction regarding the recognition of on-chain intellectual property carriers, reflecting the current regulatory system's cognitive gap regarding the new phenomenon of "tokenization of research assets." These contradictions reveal a deep paradox: DeSci attempts to deconstruct the authoritative system of traditional research through technological means, but it inevitably needs to build new trust infrastructure and consensus rules.

1. Three Core Reconstructions and Breakthrough Practices

• Decentralization of funding models: 70% of traditional research funding is constrained by government or corporate agendas, while DeSci allows funding to flow to projects genuinely driven by value through DAO crowdfunding, IP tokenization (like Molecule's IP-NFT), and community governance. For example, VitaDAO has cumulatively funded over 50 longevity research projects through tokenized crowdfunding, with 3 projects entering clinical trials, far exceeding the early project conversion rate of traditional biopharmaceutical funds.

• Upgrade of knowledge sharing paradigms: Through NFT papers (like DeSci Labs) and open-source protocol libraries (like Bio Protocol), the reuse cost of research data has been reduced by 80%, and global collaboration efficiency has increased by 4 times. In 2023, the average citation frequency of on-chain papers reached 7.2 times, three times that of traditional journals, proving that open sharing can substantially accelerate scientific progress.

• On-chain revolution of IP management: DeSci migrates intellectual property from a closed patent system to programmable smart contracts. For example, Pfizer converted early drug discovery research into IP-NFTs through the Molecule platform, achieving a 40% optimization in R&D costs, and original contributors can receive a 15% ongoing share in the commercialization phase, thoroughly breaking the industry's "inventor poverty" syndrome.

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

• Maturity of the technology stack: From the data layer (Arweave permanent storage) to the application layer (LabDAO distributed laboratories), the DeSci technology stack now supports 90% of research processes on-chain. In 2023, the activity of DeSci developers (GitHub commits) increased by 220% year-on-year, surpassing the growth rate of DeFi during the same period.

• Structural migration of capital: Traditional venture capital (like a16z and Digital Currency Group) and pharmaceutical giants (like Bayer and Novartis) have injected over $420 million into DeSci, while 35% of funds are directed toward research nodes in developing countries, promoting a rebalancing of the global innovation network.

• Formation of regulatory sandboxes: The EU's draft "Digital Science Act" explicitly recognizes the legitimacy of DAO governance, and places like Singapore have opened tax exemption channels for research tokens, with policy dividends unlocking a compliant market worth hundreds of billions.

1. Challenges and Pathways to Breakthroughs

• Technology-academic gap: Currently, only 12% of researchers are familiar with blockchain tools, but products like DeSci Labs' "no-code DAO creator" are reducing the participation threshold by 70%.

• Short-term speculative risks: Although the trading price difference of small and medium-sized projects can reach 8%, the staking rate of leading protocols (like Ocean Protocol) remains stable at over 65%, indicating that a long-term value consensus is forming.

• Regulatory games: The SEC has initiated investigations into 17% of DeSci projects, but the industry has successfully incorporated 83% of projects into compliance frameworks through the design of "utility tokens for science."

1. Future Decade: From Marginal Experiments to Mainstream Infrastructure

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

• 2023-2025 (Infrastructure Explosion Period): IP tokenization protocols and decentralized peer review systems (like DeReview) will complete standardization, pushing the market size to exceed $5 billion;

• 2026-2028 (Vertical Integration Period): The first DeSci unicorn with a valuation exceeding $10 billion will emerge in sub-tracks like biopharmaceuticals and climate science, with 20% of traditional journal content migrating on-chain;

• 2029-2030 (Paradigm Dominance Period): The DeSci model will solve at least 3 global scientific challenges (such as therapies for Alzheimer's disease) and become the core 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 scientific collaboration network" through technological democratization, where a botanist in Brazil can instantly access Norway's gene database, and medical discoveries in Africa can quickly achieve commercial transformation through DAOs, with every data contributor receiving permanent benefits through smart contracts. When scientific breakthroughs are no longer constrained by geography, institutions, or capital monopolies, humanity may usher in the greatest collaborative revolution since the internet: the production and distribution of knowledge truly belonging to all humanity. However, this transformation needs to traverse the "valley of death" between technological ideals and real-world constraints------only by establishing sustainable value capture mechanisms, inclusive governance frameworks, and compliant pathways can DeSci evolve from marginal experiments into the next generation of research infrastructure.

Acknowledgments In the planning and writing of this article, we thank Dr. UZ for his in-depth participation and professional advice, which helped us improve the structure and content of the article. His valuable insights played an important role in the smooth completion of this article.

5. References

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. 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/

8. 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.

9. Bio Protocol. https://www.bio.xyz/.

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