Original title: Science Funding Is Broken. Can Crypto Fix It?

Original by Thejaswini M A

Edited by Saoirse, Foresight News

I have a friend who spent a full seven months writing a research grant application.

Seven months, ah, this is longer than many people's time to prepare for their wedding. I'm afraid the pressure is even greater than enough. She was originally a talented

cancer treatment researcher, but she spent more energy on raising funds than on real research work.

The whole system has completely put the cart before the horse. Doing research requires funding, but if you get funding, you must first prove that the research will be successful — if you don't do research, how can you

prove that it will be successful?

On the other hand, something is outrageous: a YouTube blogger initiated a “few meters” crowdfunding and raised $100,000 in one weekend. This comparison is really ironic

.

Today, in the field of cryptography, a movement called DeSci (Decentralized

Science) is emerging to try to revolutionize research funding models using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

Don't be in a hurry; you may improve after listening; this method may actually work.

Just how bad is the current system?

The traditional research funding process is like this: researchers write a detailed research proposal, submit it to a government agency or business, then wait 6 to 18 months to receive a response. Most applications are rejected, and even when approved, come with a bunch of restrictions, causing researchers to spend more time doing paperwork than doing research

.

The core of this process is “risk reduction,” which sounds reasonable, but the problem is that breakthrough discoveries are inherently risky. From antibiotics to the internet, the most significant scientific breakthroughs were

often initially “unpopular directions” that were not funded by review committees.

There is also the issue of publishing papers: researchers must publish their results in expensive academic journals. These journals charge ridiculously high fees, and set up paywalls for research results. As a result, taxpayers

themselves can't watch research that they pay for.

Ultimately, excellent researchers spend years on bureaucratic processes rather than solving real problems. Important research has been delayed, and the public, who supports most basic research through tax payments, is isolated from the scientific research results they pay for themselves

.

DeSci debuts

DeSci (Decentralized Science) essentially encrypts The concept of money is applied to the field of scientific research: researchers no longer have to “beg” for funds from the review committee, but can directly crowdfund from people interested in their research; research results are no longer blocked by paywalls

, but are stored on a public blockchain, and anyone can access them.

When Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao began talking publicly about the concept, DeSci received a lot of attention. You need to know that when the big players in the crypto field focus on something, it often means

that the relevant infrastructure is ready to be implemented.

The specific operating model is this: researchers issue tokens representing their projects, and people buy tokens to fund research. If the research is

successful and produces profitable results, token holders can share the benefits.

This is no longer a theoretical

fantasy; many companies are building real infrastructure for decentralized science.

Take BIO Protocol, an important player in this field, as an example. It has received support from Binance Labs and has strong financial resources. BIO has created the so-called “BioDAOS”, which is essentially an investment community for crowdfunding biotechnology research. It's no longer just a few wealthy people who decide which cancer treatments are worth developing, but thousands of people can co-fund and vote to determine the direction

of research.

There are also Molecule and VitaDAO, which focus on longevity research, which tokenize intellectual property: when researchers achieve certain results, ownership is distributed to all funders. Currently, they support projects such

as aging research at the University of Newcastle and longevity research at the University of Copenhagen.

The size of funding is also growing. These platforms have processed millions of dollars in research grants, and some individual projects have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through token sales. Although it is still small compared to traditional funding

, it is growing at an impressive rate.

@HCCapital

The more I think about DeSci, the more I think it means a lot. Scientific research is inherently a collaborative process, where researchers explore the achievements of their predecessors , data sharing, peer review, and blockchain technology is designed

for this kind of transparent collaboration.

The traditional funding system has spawned a distorted incentive mechanism: researchers have to exaggerate the certainty of research in order to get funding; this in turn hampers exploration of “uncertain but likely breakthroughs”. DeSci reverses that. It rewards researchers to share all data

, including failed experiments, because it may help others take fewer detours.

Another benefit is that it allows researchers from all over the world to participate. Researchers in Nigeria have good ideas and can raise funds from around the world without having to rely on Western universities or funding institutions. This is of great significance to the democratization of scientific progress

.

Moreover, 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 were used for actual research or whether

they became administrative expenses.

Risks and challenges

Of course, the risks cannot be ignored. The biggest problem is quality control. Despite all its flaws, traditional peer reviews can indeed screen out some junk research. In a decentralized system, how

can people avoid funding clearly unreliable scientific research projects?

Volatility is also a real challenge. What if a five-year cancer research project is funded by cryptographic tokens and the 10,000 yuan 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 rights, and it is unclear how tokenized research

fits into the existing legal framework.

To be honest, most scientists are not “natives” in the field of cryptography; it is difficult for strong people to suddenly become experts in tokenomics and DAO governance

.

Summarize

Despite all the problems, the momentum of DeSci cannot be ignored. Relevant infrastructure is becoming more and more perfect, and capital investment continues to grow, while the traditional scientific research funding system is deteriorating. When funding agencies need 18 months to approve funding for urgent research, and crypto crowdfunding can be completed in a few days, the

efficiency gap is obvious.

Early projects mostly focused on biotechnology and longevity research, which makes sense. These fields have clear commercial potential: if funded research results in new drugs, token holders can share the profits. But this model actually applies to any research that ultimately creates value

.

I think we're in the early stages of a major undertaking. It's not that cryptocurrency can replace traditional research funding overnight

, but rather that it provides a new path that is faster, more transparent, and easier for researchers around the world to obtain.

The real test for DeSci is whether it can produce actual scientific breakthroughs, not just raise money. But given the current state of traditional research

funding, it's always worth trying new methods.

This is just the beginning. The DeSci field is developing rapidly, new projects are constantly emerging, and real money is flowing into actual research. The intersection of cryptocurrency and research funding

is creating opportunities that didn't exist a year ago.

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