Decentralized science (DeSci) platform Bio Protocol secured backing from investors including Maelstrom Fund and Animoca Brands to expand its artificial intelligence-native biotech research framework.
Bio Protocol announced Wednesday that it had raised $6.9 million in funding, reflecting growing interest in decentralized approaches to drug discovery that integrate AI, blockchain and community engagement.
Maelstrom founder Arthur Hayes described Bio Protocol as a potential “category-defining launchpad” for scientific research. “If it works, it’s not just a launchpad – it’s the birth of an AI-native research market,” he said.
Hayes also highlighted how it opens up research opportunities that communities find appealing, not just what academics find interesting.
Cointelegraph reached out to Maelstrom and Animoca for more information, but did not receive a response by publication.
Speeding up science using AI and crypto
DeSci is a movement that uses blockchain technology, crypto incentives and decentralized governance to change how scientific research is conducted, funded and shared.
Bio Protocol said it’s speeding up science by integrating crypto and AI. Its approach compresses the drug discovery pipeline using blockchain-based funding and coordination.
Instead of waiting years for traditional grants to be awarded or pharma partnerships to be formed, researchers can use decentralized AI agents, dubbed “BioAgents” that generate hypotheses, connect to onchain wallets and channel community-raised capital into experiments.
Each step of the process will be recorded onchain, ensuring that contributors will be credited and maintaining an immutable record of research progress.
The protocol also uses crypto-native incentives to keep research moving faster. It uses tokenized intellectual property, staking systems and loyalty rewards to align investors, researchers and community members around shared outcomes.
Related: ‘Science needs an update’: How DeSci can fix junk science and cure baldness
Addressing inefficiencies in academic research
Simon Dedic, the founder of Moonrock Capital, one of Bio Protocol’s investors, said that DeSci’s early innings can “sometimes look like a meme.” However, he said that Bio Protocol can play a major role in fixing the academic science system.
“Coming from academic science myself, I know firsthand how broken the system is, with massively misaligned incentives that have fatal consequences across the board,” Dedic said, adding that the project could make science great again.
The company positioned its work as part of a larger DeSci movement aimed at reducing reliance on universities, government grants and pharmaceutical companies, while making research more accessible to communities and independent scientists.
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