What is DeSci?
Decentralized science, or DeSci, is a broad concept that describes projects involving blockchain in scientific and near—scientific fields. In a broad sense, the DeSci direction may include tokens, NFTs, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), one way or another related to science.
DeSci projects, as a rule, are aimed at democratizing scientific research and harnessing the potential of the blockchain for new scientific discoveries. This is often done by creating a decentralized platform for fundraising, experimentation, data exchange and dissemination of ideas.
By and large, DeSci is based on the simple idea that scientific knowledge should be accessible to everyone and that the research process should be transparent.
Why is this important
In theory, the Internet was supposed to democratize science, because science is a process of intensive exchange and acquisition of knowledge, that is, information. Therefore, science and information technology must go hand in hand. This is what happens, in principle, but this process cannot be called democratic.
Previously, before the Internet, access to scientific knowledge could be obtained at universities, which had accumulated literature in their libraries for dozens or even hundreds of years. The Internet has simplified the process, but the most advanced research is not freely available. For money, you're welcome, but it's very expensive. But in order to receive the latest scientific literature without disproportionately high financial costs, you need to have access to university resources. Therefore, total democratization did not happen.
This is where DeSci finds its niche. In other words, these are projects that try to make science more accessible or solve important key problems based on scientific research. Let's look at the largest DeSci projects by capitalization.
OriginTrail (TRAC)
OriginTrail is an ecosystem that creates an infrastructure of reliable knowledge for artificial intelligence. It solves the problem of misinformation in machine learning.
OriginTrail creates a verifiable network for decentralized artificial intelligence. It uses its unique decentralized knowledge graph and the OriginTrail blockchain to provide artificial intelligence-based solutions.
OriginTrail has received the support of many large organizations such as the British Standards Institute, SCAN, Polkadot, Parity, Walmart, the World Federation of Hemophilia, Oracle and even the European Commission.
At the same time, TRAC's market capitalization is still a modest $258 million.
Dynex (DNX)
A project using the POUW consensus algorithm (Proof-of-Useful-work, proof of useful work) uses GPU miners for work that is used in super-efficient neuromorphic computing. In fact, such calculations come close to what can be built on the basis of the ability of qubits to superposition, that is, quantum computing.
The capitalization of the project is about $ 60 million, which is not much, however, given the complexity and relevance of the technologies that underlie Dynex, the project may well have a great future.
VitaDAO (VITA)
VitaDAO is a decentralized organization that funds research in the field of aging in order to commercialize the intellectual property obtained. VitaDAO specializes in financing innovative and experimental projects, which, on the one hand, are quite risky in terms of investment, and on the other hand, they are able to make a breakthrough in the field of science and bring a lot of money on patents.
VitaDAO's capitalization reaches $47.5 million.
Hippocrat HPO
A project for patients to securely store their medical data using blockchain and zero-disclosure evidence. Based on this data, you can get medical advice in the Hippo app.
The capitalization of the project is $45 million.
AxonDAO (AXGT)
AxonDAO is a decentralized organization for financing medical projects. Like VitaDAO, it is also planned to monetize intellectual property from funded developments.
The capitalization of AxonDAO is $35.5 million.
HairDAO (HAIR)
This decentralized organization, as the name implies, is associated with hair. The community finances projects to combat hair loss, on the one hand, bringing an effective solution to a problem that is relevant to many, on the other — expecting to earn patents from funded developments.
This is a good example of how the DeSci market works — the community finds an urgent problem and uses decentralized resources to raise funds to solve it, simultaneously enriching itself if the research results are protected by intellectual property rights.
The capitalization of HairDAO has almost reached $30 million.
Conclusion
Yes, DeSci cannot boast of high capitalization yet. This can be explained by the relative novelty of the concept, as well as the fact that DeSci projects offer mainly utilitarian tokens or management tokens and therefore they do not collect the same speculative interest as other assets. That's why they have lower volatility and less liquidity, which complicates capitalization growth.
On the other hand, science is a long—term project, so DeSci needs a lot of time to develop. Scientific breakthroughs don't happen at the click of a finger, they require a lot of work and resources. Blockchain technologies have created another good source of these resources, which in itself is very valuable.
This material and the information in it do not constitute an individual or other investment recommendation. The editorial board's opinion may not coincide with the opinions of the author, analytical portals and experts.