What is Decentralized Science (DeSci)

Overview

Decentralized Science (DeSci) is a movement to reform how science is funded, published, and governed using blockchain technology, DAOs, and token economics. It addresses systemic problems in traditional science: closed-access publishing, opaque peer review, misaligned funding incentives, and intellectual property monopolization.

Core Principles

• Open Access — Research published on-chain or through decentralized storage, freely accessible
• Community Governance — DeSci DAOs let token holders vote on which research gets funded
• IP Tokenization — IP-NFTs represent intellectual property rights, enabling fractional ownership and trading
• Transparent Review — On-chain peer review with reviewer reputation tracking
• Novel Funding — Quadratic funding, retroactive funding, and token-curated grants

Relevance to Radix

Radix's asset-oriented programming is particularly suited for DeSci: IP-NFTs are native resources (not contract state), DAOs benefit from engine-level access rules, and complex funding mechanisms can be composed atomically via transaction manifests.