New technologies can have quick and dramatic effects on society, but they can also spread slowly and subtly. Blockchain-powered decentralized science (DeSci) is taking off after several years in the making. Its impact is being felt not just in the weird confines of high-tech labs, but in the business world as well.
psychedelia and longevity
Paul Kohlhaas, co-founder and CEO of Molecule—a biotech decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) platform founded in 2019—talked about pharmaceutical research and funding on the Zima Red podcast in April. “We think it could be much cheaper, if it were coordinated in a better way,” Kohlhaas said of pharmaceutical research. “I think there is a cultural and bureaucratic problem.”
Kohlhaas compared blockchain in the pharmaceutical industry to fintech in banking. “The banking sector has only started to evolve in the last 10 years because of fintechs, because fintechs are starting to really hurt their bottom line and take customers away from them”said.
Molecule enables researchers, biotech companies, and universities to combine data and intellectual property (IP) rights into non-fungible tokens (IP-NFTs), thus creating a new market. The holder of an IP-NFT may apply for funding to continue research activities, or an organization may enter into an agreement with the owner of the IP-NTF to use the data and IP for its own purposes.
Financing can also find new outlets. Kohlhaas mentioned research on psychedelics in psychiatry as a priority that he personally champions, as well as longevity. “Longevity companies are currently funded by billionaires,” he said. “But I think there’s a risk there. Because if, for example, the richest people in the world live longer and longer and get richer and richer, that will fundamentally create, in the long run, an unjust society, because wealth is not It is distributed”.
Research Hub is an open access research platform that COO Patrick Joyce likened to GitHub for scientific research. Joyce told Cointelegraph that the platform, which is backed by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, may provide a serious incentive for open access publishing and funding research on topics that the National Science Foundation does not fund, like quantum biology.
Businesses get a boost from blockchain
DeSci can be an advantage in various business contexts. An example of this is the crowded field of consumer genomics. Lhe London-based company Genomes.io offers the public 30-fold sequencing of the entire genome. This is in contrast to many better-known brands that only sequence the genetic exome, bypassing the “junk” genes that make up the vast majority of the genome and whose importance is rapidly being discovered. “Not a week goes by without a discovery,” Genomes.io CEO and co-founder Aldo de Pape told Cointelegraph.
Genomes.io has 14 employees and is the second company de Pape and co-founder Mark Hahnel have worked for together. The entrepreneurs met while working at MacMillan publishing house, and de Pape followed Hahnel to Figshare, a company that provides research data infrastructure to large government clients, which Hahnel launched in 2011.
In 2018, anticipating advances in gene mapping that have reduced the price of genetic sequencing from billions to hundreds of dollars, de Pape, Hahnel, and three others founded Genomes.io. The following year, the company was accepted into the ConsenSys Ventures Tachyon 2.0 accelerator. In 2021 it held an initial coin offering (ICO).
Genomes.io sequences the genomes of customers, encrypts them, and stores them in an electronic vault. Customers can choose to receive reports based on their genetic information, such as ancestry and rare disease carrier status, with a range of new topics planned.
Clients may also allow their data to be used in research queries. Query matching occurs within the data vault, so genomic data never leaves the data vault. Blockchain technology provides security by recording all queries made to holder data in a single version of the ledger.
Holders who decide to share genomic information are rewarded with GENE, as are those who contribute to the development or design of the project through the DAO. GENE is used for governance and is available on the Sushi exchange. The “Geneticats” NFT, available from OpenSea, offers genomic sequencing and hybrid GENE/GNOME benefits.
The barrier to participate in the DAO is low. “There’s really lovely interest from people who wanted a closer relationship with the company”said of Pape. Participants are rewarded for contributing development and design ideas. The DAO has “no say on the business side,” which includes large-scale projects with partners from Australia, Bermuda and the United States.
An improvement of biometrics
The Madrid-based company DNAVerse has found another quite practical use for genetics. The company will use genetic information to confirm users’ identities as humans—as opposed to AI or chatbots—in metaverses. Together with its sister organization, 3DforScience, DNAVerse creates “DNArt” NFTs that can be used in a comparable way to avatars.
DNAVerse, according to its marketing director, Juan Castillo, is in the presale phase. It has eight employees and shares several more with 3DforScience. It has recently teamed up with Polygon Studios and opened an embassy in the Matrix World metaverse. The firm will mint 200 highly customizable “cryptoprotein” NFTs and 3,200 “DNArt” NFTs based on customers’ genetic data, but not containing their data.
Upon minting of all “DNArt” NFTs, new customers will be required to select a “cryptoprotein” and a “DNArt” to stake on a decentralized market, and holders will receive a percentage of the price for their participation in the replication process. . Your genetic data will be released to customers, who will remain in control of their data and have the option to remain anonymous. They will meet under the rule of a DAO that has not yet been formed.
The business model has many club aspects. A clothing line with the “DNArt” of customers, wellness channels and virtual events based on genetic affinities are planned. Customers can also get “DNAat” for their pets.
DeSci can provide an advantage in a number of commercial contexts. The crowded field of consumer genomics is an example. London-based Genomes.io offers the public 30x whole genome sequencing. This is in contrast to many more familiar brands that sequence only the genetic exome, passing over the “junk” genes that make up the vast majority of the genome and whose importance is rapidly being uncovered. “Not a week goes by without a discovery,” Genomes.io CEO and cofounder Aldo de Pape told Cointelegraph.
Clarification: The information and/or opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views or editorial line of Cointelegraph. The information set forth herein should not be taken as financial advice or investment recommendation. All investment and commercial movement involve risks and it is the responsibility of each person to do their due research before making an investment decision.