Can DeSci solve the "broken window effect" in research funding?

Can DeSci, a new trend of crypto, blow up the rigid old system and allow real money to flow into practical and meaningful research? This article is based on an article by Thejaswini M A and was compiled, compiled and contributed by Foresight News. (Synopsis: Changpeng Zhao CZ: Donate $10 million BNB to Vitalik a few months ago to fund the DeSci project) (Background supplement: From a scientist's perspective: Is DeSci really a future revolution in academic research? I have a friend who spent seven months writing a research grant application. Seven months, which is longer than many people preparing for the wedding, I am afraid that the pressure is even more excessive. She was a talented cancer treatment researcher, but she spent more time raising money than actual scientific work. The whole system is completely putting the cart before the horse. Research requires funding, but to get funding, you have to prove that the research will succeed – but how can you prove that it will succeed without doing research? On the other hand, some things are outrageous: a YouTube blogger launched a "few grains" crowdfunding campaign and raised $100,000 in a weekend. The contrast is ironic. Now in the crypto space, a movement called DeSci (Decentralized Science) is emerging, trying to revolutionize the research funding model with cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Don't be in a hurry, you may change your mind after listening to it, and this method may really work. How bad is the current system? The traditional research funding process goes like this: researchers write a detailed research proposal, submit it to a government agency or company, and then wait 6 to 18 months to receive a response. Most applications are rejected, and even if they are approved, they come with a bunch of restrictions that result in researchers spending more time on paperwork than on research. At the heart of the process is "risk reduction," which sounds reasonable, but here's the problem: Breakthrough discoveries are inherently risky. From antibiotics to the Internet, the most significant scientific breakthroughs are often initially "unpopular" directions that the review committee will not fund. There's also the problem of publishing: Researchers have to publish in expensive academic journals that charge ridiculously high fees and have paywalls for their research. As a result, taxpayers pay for research that taxpayers themselves don't see. In the end, good researchers spend years in bureaucratic processes rather than solving actual problems. Important research is delayed, even stillborn, while the public, which underpins much of its basic research through taxes, is cut off from what it pays for. DeSci debuts DeSci (decentralized science) essentially applies the idea of cryptocurrency to the field of scientific research: researchers no longer have to "beg" for funds from the judging committee, but can crowdfund directly from people who care about their research; Research results are no longer blocked by paywalls, but are stored on a public blockchain and accessible to anyone. When Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao started talking about the concept in public, DeSci gained a lot of attention. You know, when the big guys in the crypto field focus on something, it often means that the relevant infrastructure is ready to land. Here's how it works: researchers issue tokens that represent their projects, people buy tokens to fund research, and token holders share in the proceeds if the research is successful and yields profitable results. This is no longer a theoretical fantasy, many companies are building real infrastructure for decentralized science. Take BIO Protocol, an important player in this space, which was backed by Binance Labs and has strong financial strength. BIO has created so-called "BioDAOs," which are essentially investment communities that crowdfund biotech research. Instead of a handful of wealthy people deciding which cancer treatments are worth developing, thousands of people can co-fund and vote on the direction of research. Then there's Molecule and VitaDAO, which focus on longevity research, which tokenize intellectual property: when researchers achieve a certain result, ownership is distributed to all funders. Current projects they support include the University of Newcastle's ageing study and the University of Copenhagen's longevity study. The scale of funding is also growing. These platforms have processed millions of dollars in research funding, with some individual projects raising hundreds of thousands of dollars through token sales. While still small compared to traditional funding, the growth rate is staggering. @HCCapital the more I think about DeSci, the more I find it meaningful. Scientific research is inherently a collaborative process, where researchers explore, share data, and peer review the results of their predecessors, and blockchain technology is designed for this kind of transparent collaboration. The traditional funding system has created distorted incentives: researchers have to exaggerate the certainty of research in order to receive funding, which in turn hinders the exploration of "uncertain but possible breakthroughs" directions. DeSci reversed that. It rewards researchers for sharing all the data, including failed experiments, because it may help others avoid detours. Another benefit is that it can involve researchers from all over the world. Researchers in Nigeria have good ideas and can raise money from around the world without having to be backed by Western universities or funding agencies. This is of great significance for the democratization of scientific progress. And transparency is inherent: when research is funded through blockchain tokens, everyone can clearly see where the funds are going, and there is no need to guess whether the funds are being spent on the actual research or become an administrative expense. Risks and challenges Of course, risks cannot be ignored. The biggest problem is quality control. Traditional peer review, despite its flaws, does screen out some garbage studies. In a decentralized system, how to prevent people from funding obviously unreliable scientific research projects? Volatility is also a real problem. If a five-year cancer research project is financed in crypto tokens, what if the token price plummets by 90%? Long-term research requires stable funding. Regulatory uncertainty also exists. Most countries have complex regulations on medical research, drug development and intellectual property, and it is not clear how tokenized research will be integrated into the existing legal framework. To be honest, most scientists are not "natives" in the crypto space, and it is difficult to ask them to suddenly become experts in token economics and DAO governance. Conclusion Despite its many problems, DeSci's momentum cannot be ignored. The infrastructure is improving and funding is growing, while the traditional research funding system is deteriorating. When funding agencies take 18 months to approve funding for urgent research, and crypto crowdfunding can be completed in days, the efficiency gap is obvious. It makes sense that early-stage projects are focused on biotechnology and longevity research, which have clear commercial potential: token holders can share in the profits if funded research leads to new drugs. But this model is applicable to any research that ultimately creates value. I think we are in the early stages of a major undertaking. It's not that cryptocurrencies can replace traditional research funding overnight, but they offer a new path that's faster, more transparent, and more accessible to researchers around the world. The real test for DeSci will be whether it can produce actual scientific breakthroughs, not just raise money. But given the current state of traditional research funding, it is always worth trying new approaches. This is just the beginning. The DeSci field is growing rapidly, new projects are emerging, and real money is flowing into actual research. The intersection of cryptocurrencies and research funding is giving birth to opportunities that didn't exist a year ago...