DeSci or Decentralized Science is a segment when cryptocurrencies and blockchain are utilized to support scientific research in various ways.

More specifically, DeSci should be referred to as an umbrella term for systems, practices and assets related to Web3 usage in science.

Decentralized Science (DeSci) is a rapidly growing segment of Web3 that aims to enhance scientific research through blockchain technology. It encompasses various practices, crypto assets, and communities dedicated to supporting, investing in, and improving scientific processes with distributed tools.

DeSci: Basics

DeSci, short for decentralized science, is an emerging concept that integrates decentralized technologies into scientific research, striving to make it more inclusive, transparent, trust-minimized, democratic, and collaborative. It primarily seeks to address challenges in modern science by enabling direct funding through crypto assets, maintaining distributed platforms for data sharing, and leveraging financial incentives for valuable contributors.

Underpinned by a decentralized tech stack, DeSci renders data tamper-proof yet accessible, fostering trust in research outcomes. Smart contracts can be utilized to automate funding contracts, while decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) empower communities to collectively decide on key research principles and objectives.

DeSci promotes open science by lowering the barriers to entry for knowledge and democratizing participation. This approach is particularly impactful for underfunded areas of research, global collaboration, and reproducibility.

DeSci: Tech concepts

Despite being in its early stages, the DeSci movement has already spawned several groundbreaking technical and social designs aimed at propelling scientific research to the next level.

Decentralized research organization and publishing

First, DeSci technologies can aid in the organization of research, publishing scientific papers, peer reviews, and expertise. In the Web2 world, malicious actors can artificially inflate their scientific metrics (e.g., h-index) or even manipulate research results.)

With decentralized peer review mechanisms, the credentialing for a new text will be transparent and more credible, and much harder to influence by human factors. When the track record of a scholar is visible on-chain, it makes no sense to try to showcase fake results.

Moreover, decentralized data sharing platforms will eliminate the gate-keeping problems associated with limited slots and the high operational costs of top modern scientific journals. Such tooling will be invaluable for young scholars.

Crypto fundraising for science

Next, cryptocurrencies, as a resource-efficient, transparent, and inclusive mode of fundraising (known since the ICO boom of 2016–2018), can be critical for mobilizing funds for scientific endeavors.

With DeSci funding tools, it will be much easier for researchers to raise funds for their programs. Also, the decentralized and community-driven ethos of this funding will prevent researchers from being controlled by corporations and governments.

Moreover, thanks to smart contracts, investors can track the team’s spending: processes, expenses, milestones, results, and more. Multi-sig wallet designs will protect the funds from being stolen and funneled into centralized systems.

Tokenization of intellectual property

In scientific research, there is always a risk of plagiarism or misattribution of results, developments, know-hows, and so on. Modern copyright protection systems may fail to safeguard sophisticated data from being stolen and abused.

In DeSci, researchers can tokenize their developments as NFTs. Every modern NFT, whether ERC-721 or similar standards, stores tamper-proof information about the creation details and associated content. Also, IP-related NFTs can be created at a negligible cost compared to Web2 copyright protection services and agencies.

DeSci: Promises and challenges

While DeSci holds immense promise for disrupting the processes of scientific research, it faces several obstacles that need to be overcome. First, it will always encounter resistance from traditional institutions and researchers.

Next, the high volatility of cryptocurrencies can pose a risk for long-term funding programs. For instance, if ETH price drops by 50% in a year, the compensation of researchers will also be halved, which will certainly impact the program’s prospects.

Also, connecting to blockchain-based data sharing systems might expose them to losses in the event of attacks. Some of the data on the blockchain might never be recovered. Regulatory uncertainty in most jurisdictions for digital assets is another challenge to DeSci's progress.

At the same time, the transparency, cost-effectiveness, inclusivity, and direct funding in DeSci make the segment attractive for researchers across various fields.

DeSci: Potential ways of development

The Decentralized Science segment has several promising vectors for growth. Some of the most promising include DeSci DAOs, distributed data storage, and crypto-based financial incentives.

Forming decentralized autonomous organizations for research governance and prioritization will allow scientific communities (in universities, institutes, colleges) to vote on funding allocation and project approval.

Utilizing decentralized storage solutions like Render Network, BitTorrent, IPFS, or Filecoin could be useful in securing research data storage. Also, such data systems might help in promoting open-access repositories to make scientific knowledge globally accessible.

Last but not least, creating token-based systems to reward researchers, peer reviewers, and data contributors will attract new developers and scientists to such systems. Also, implementing reputation systems for transparent recognition of contributors has the potential to replace traditional