MEME empowers new concepts? Can DeSci become the new on-chain research engine?

Recently, DeSci has become one of the hottest topics in the crypto market. This once-quiet concept has regained attention after a certain trading platform invested in BIO Protocol, attracting a large influx of funds, leading to astonishing gains in some projects like RIF and URO, while also giving rise to a new potential MEME track.

DeSci, or decentralized science, aims to build public infrastructure through Web3 technology to achieve open and fair funding, storage, and dissemination of scientific knowledge. It encourages scientists to publicly share research results and gain recognition while allowing anyone to easily access and contribute to research findings. In short, DeSci is committed to using blockchain technology to address various issues in the research field, including fundraising, knowledge sharing, review processes, and intellectual property protection.

Currently, DeSci mainly focuses on fundraising, with most projects financing research projects through tokenization. At the same time, putting research results on-chain to improve transparency and protect intellectual property is also an important direction. The core role of DeSci is to open new fundraising channels for scientific research that requires long-term investment, connecting the seemingly unrelated fields of cryptocurrency and scientific research, and giving tokenization more practical significance, thus being seen by the market as one of the typical cases of MEME practical application.

The rise of the current DeSci boom has been significantly influenced by celebrity effects. On November 8, a trading platform completed strategic financing for BIO Protocol, bringing this project known as "the on-chain science version of Y Combinator" into the spotlight. Subsequently, a well-known figure and the founder of Ethereum discussed DeSci together at a DeSci Day event hosted by a trading platform, further boosting the popularity of this concept.

The crypto space has rapidly sparked a DeSci craze, with Pump.Science becoming an overnight sensation. Projects like RIF and URO have achieved astonishing profit growth, allowing this track to break out completely. A partner at a certain capital firm even believes that the current feel of the DeSci field is reminiscent of the DeFi era in early 2019; although it is still very primitive and experimental, it holds immense potential. Even in the recent significant market correction, the DeSci sector still rose against the trend by 3.35%.

Although the vision of DeSci is promising and undoubtedly valuable for opening up new funding channels for scientific research, the current situation clearly shows that the hype aspect outweighs the actual utility. There is an obvious contradiction between the long-term nature of scientific research and the short-term profit-seeking nature of the MEME field, making it seem somewhat unrealistic to attempt to neutralize the zero-speculation research field with the purely speculative MEME track.

Scientific research is highly uncertain and often requires long-term continuous investment. For example, drug development may take decades, and a wrong direction can lead to total failure. This is also why research funding typically adopts a model led by the state and large enterprises, combining national capital and social capital to diversify risks and maintain competitiveness. However, in the crypto market, attention is key, and trends are difficult to sustain. Currently, the hot money around DeSci is mainly concentrated on the meme coin issuance platform Pump.Science, reflecting the market's focus on the profit-making effect.

Conceptually, DeSci is somewhat similar to putting new wine in an old bottle. As early as July 2021, VitaDAO, initiated by the founder of Ethereum, was one of the earliest and most representative DeSci projects, but its development has not been as remarkable as the concept.

VitaDAO is a community-owned project dedicated to funding early longevity research, with the goal of driving scientific innovation through the collective power of the community, researching and supporting projects aimed at extending human lifespan and preventing age-related diseases. In simple terms, VitaDAO is a DAO community focused on longevity research.

Previously, VitaDAO briefly sparked discussions due to a strategic investment from a pharmaceutical company, but soon returned to calm. Currently, VitaDAO is widely expanding, having invested $4.2 million in funding 24 projects, and has collaborated with several well-known universities for research. However, compared to its actions, the actual results seem limited. Since 2021, it wasn't until the recent Devcon conference that the founder of Ethereum finally showcased VitaDAO's first product, VD001.

Although putting research results on-chain can enhance transparency and protect intellectual property, benefiting the dissemination of scientific knowledge, this practice is almost structurally disruptive in relatively closed research fields. In the current research system, most research teams maintain a high level of confidentiality regarding research results and experimental data during the research process to prevent unauthorized use or leakage, especially when deep interests are involved, confidentiality becomes crucial. With the strong intervention of decentralization, the security of data is naturally difficult to guarantee.

Under the influence of these factors, it is foreseeable that, apart from superficial applications in research content, review fairness, and data tokenization, only those topics that are extremely difficult to implement, take a long time, and require strong collaboration will truly fit the crypto model. From this wave of enthusiasm, most DeSci projects are targeting a core issue of common concern to all humanity—longevity, which has also led the market to jokingly refer to DeSci as the on-chain elixir of life.

The idea of eternal life is ultimately just a beautiful vision, and the market's interest in DeSci mainly lies in the liquidity it brings. Although the BIO Genesis community fundraising campaign initiated by BIOProtocol raised 33 million dollars, and the DeSci sector has soared in the past two weeks, actions in the primary market are limited, with large institutions yet to participate. Looking at leading projects, interest in the secondary market also appears mediocre, with the market capitalizations of VITA and RIF both ranging from 120 million to 200 million dollars, far from the 1 billion dollar market caps of leaders in other sectors.

However, if we look at it from a short-term perspective, DeSci can be considered a relatively good sector in the MEME space. Compared to other MEMEs, DeSci possesses a stronger narrative. Although the celebrity effect is difficult to sustain, there is a fundamental effect due to the support of actual research projects, and any scientific innovation and product development will enhance the narrative strength. The biomedical sector tends to be open to fundraising, and its emerging nature makes it more likely to connect with the crypto field. In addition, DeSci has the potential for a breakout effect; currently, the celebrity effect in this sector is still concentrated within the crypto community, with well-known figures from traditional medicine and research yet to enter, and large institutions have not yet emerged, which also provides direction for subsequent narratives.

From a macro market perspective, whether it is zoos or artists, AI-driven or research-validated, MEME has become the main carrier of market funds. However, the previous huge wealth bearer of this round is still the altcoins. Looking solely at the altcoin market, Bitcoin has risen from 10,000 dollars to nearly 100,000 dollars, the follow-up effect of Ethereum has significantly decreased, and the performance of most altcoins has mostly declined, with only SOL and XRP among the top ten crypto assets experiencing an increase. The altcoin season, which used to see increases of dozens of times, seems difficult to replicate.

At its core, the change in the flow of funds is key. In traditional bull market transmission, the common path is from high stability assets gradually sinking and overflowing to low stability assets, activating high yield preferences from low yield sources, namely mainstream coins - altcoins - MEME coins - other sectors, but this year this path is not as it used to be. Currently, with the entry of institutions and the saturation of project numbers, large external new liquidity will only flow into the Bitcoin ecosystem, and the public chain ecosystem has no strong applications emerging. Altcoins are deeply trapped in a supply-demand structure crisis, with Bitcoin becoming the siphon of ecosystem funds, and funds from other sectors are also attracted. Only the fast in and out, wealth effect concentrated MEME stands out, thus turning the altcoin season into MEME season.

A typical evidence is that Pump.fun has already become the biggest winner of the bull market. According to data, as of November 24, pump.fun's total revenue has approached $230 million, with a total of approximately 3.74 million tokens deployed.

Of course, the two are not substitutes for each other. The rise of MEME does not mean the collapse of altcoins. With regulatory easing and sector rotation, altcoins still have the potential to turn the tide against the wind. However, the enhancement of MEME's market position undoubtedly reflects a structural transformation in the market. In fact, whether it's Pumpfun live streaming, short video calls, or AI-driven autonomy, the cryptocurrency market is undergoing deep changes in narrative logic, communication patterns, and operating methods, driven by the entry of a new generation and the rapid evolution of new technologies.

Traditional altcoin projects that revolve around token releases to maintain a long-term narrative of harvesting profits are difficult to sustain. The market no longer pays for venture capital tokens, but is shifting towards a direction that is fairer, more autonomous, and closer to the core of the tokens, where attention is increasingly scarce. In this regard, the combination of MEME and projects seems more competitive than a single project. Altcoins are dominated by speculation, while MEME is relatively fair; MEME lacks long-term sustainability, whereas projects provide fundamental value. The two are highly compatible, which may also be one of the reasons behind the rise of concepts like AIMEME and Desci.

However, the formation of consensus has a high degree of randomness, and there are very few MEME gold mines. According to data, as of November 21, Pump.fun has issued a total of 3.59 million tokens, a quantity that far exceeds the total token issuance in the past 10 years of the crypto world. Among them, the number of tokens that graduated (filled the curve on a certain trading platform) is 50,389, accounting for about 1.4%. The number of tokens with a market value exceeding 100 million dollars is only 32, with less than one ten-thousandth of the MEME market value exceeding 10 million dollars.

In the long run, finding a consensus balance between attention and longevity will become an important topic for the development of MEME, but for individuals, survival and avoiding a total loss is the prerequisite for everything.