What is DeSci: Guide on Decentralized Science in Crypto

 

One of the newest segments in Web3 and the most exciting crypto narrative of the third-fourth quarter of 2024, DeSci, is attempting to solve scientific research problems with blockchain-based tools. Breaking News Bitcoin is vital to the prosperity of the US nation: Michael Saylor Ripple CTO: ‘We could offer an XRP-only system if we wanted’ Breaking: Ripple secures key UAE license Fidelity: All eyes on Bitcoin’s $70,000 support Decentralized science (DeSci for short) is a concept of blockchain technologies, methods, assets, and communities involved in scientific research; DeSci addresses the specific needs of scientists and researchers with transparent, low-trust, community-driven, and cost-effective tools; To accelerate global research initiatives, the DeSci area offers NFTs, DAOs, DePINs, as well as the latest developments in smart contracts and AI; The most important use cases of DeSci include data sharing, peer review of research articles, raising funds for research, data validation, and more; DeSci cryptocurrencies are a class of crypto-tokens (altcoins) associated with decentralized science protocols. 

As of early Q1 2025, OriginTrail (TRAC), Research Coin (RSC), and VitaDAO (VITA) are the largest DeSci cryptocurrencies, each with a market capitalization in the nine digits. The net market capitalization of the DeSci sector is over $1.1 billion. What are narratives in cryptocurrencies? Narratives related to cryptocurrencies have emerged as broad themes, ideas, or overarching concepts that catalyze market trends, community behavior, and investment decisions by retail and institutional investors. These narratives typically arise from technological innovations, market movements, or societal shifts that shape the way people perceive the value and potential of specific cryptocurrencies or projects. 

The most prominent early narratives include “Bitcoin as digital gold” (increasing scarcity of BTC due to halving), “Ethereum as supersonic money” (macro impact of EIP 1559), and others. Narratives create hype, attract developers and investors, and influence token prices. They evolve as the industry matures, often reflecting macroeconomic, technological, or cultural trends, and play a key role in shaping the crypto ecosystem. As the cryptocurrency market becomes increasingly dynamic, narratives are becoming increasingly ephemeral. Typical examples include DeFi Summer 2020, TikTok Meme Coin Mania 2020, Solana Summer 2023, etc. How to profit from narratives in cryptocurrencies? Since crypto narratives are powerful enough to cause profound changes in market structure, a certain class of market participants is interested in profiting from narrative changes. 

Buy and hold the assets of the most hyped stories. This is the simplest strategy: just look for major narrative figures, buy the assets and hold them. Launch narrative-themed tokens. With no-code launchpads like Pump.fun on Solana or SunPump on Tron, anyone can deploy their token and profit from the sale; put liquidity into a “narrative-driven portfolio”. A more balanced move would be to select several altcoins that share a particular storyline and distribute the available assets among them. When investing in crypto narratives, digital asset holders should always keep an eye on market dynamics, as such altcoins tend to be more volatile than large-cap companies. Major crypto narratives for 2024-2025 Most of the recent crypto narratives have only gained attention for a couple of weeks. 

However, technologies related to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have proven to be really powerful. AI Agents AI agents are isolated programs that can be run on blockchains to perform basic-level tasks without human intervention. For example, AI agents can be empowered to purchase tokens, issue stablecoins, burn coins, collect NFTs, etc. In Q4 2024, Coinbase introduced Based Agent, a low-code AI agent launcher. It allows Coinbase users to create, test, and deploy AI agents on the EVM blockchain. AI Agent Cryptocurrencies: Artificial Superintelligence Alliance - formerly Fetch.AI (FET), Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), SingularityNET (AGIX), Spectral (SPEC), Autonolus (OLAS). AI Meme Coins AI meme cryptocurrencies should be classified as a group of memetic coins created or promoted using artificial intelligence tools. For most of them, AI is part of the marketing narrative, while the actual AI/ML toolkit has nothing to do with them. However, the intersection of two powerful trends (AI coins)