What is DeSci V2 and Why Does it Matter?

Sei

18 Mar 2025 • 4 min read

By: Eleanor Davies Head of DeSci at Sei Foundation.

DeSci, or decentralised science, dovetails with the Open Science movement. It uses blockchain and crypto incentives to catalyses scientific research, funding, and collaboration. By addressing traditional bottlenecks such as funding gatekeepers, DeSci aims to accelerate innovation and democratize participation to bring scientific progress to the people. This matters because our current infrastructure is plagued with inefficiencies that slow the advancement of scientific breakthroughs - from the life sciences to deeptech (Eroom's Law) and limit who can contribute to human knowledge.

Having recently joined Sei Foundation as Head of DeSci, I’m on a mission to build DeSci V2. This follows the launch of Sapien Capital - the Foundation's $65M fund - the largest commitment of capital in DeSci to date. Rather than prescribing a rigid thesis, I offer this document as inspiration for ambitious founders and tinkerers in DeSci.

There are plenty of articles that discuss DeSci at length, so this is intentionally brief. For further reading, I would recommend the following:

What is DeSci V2?

DeSci V2 represents the next wave of DeSci applications, powered by high performance blockchain technology. We're moving beyond funding vehicles (the V1s) towards sophisticated applications enabled by Sei's infrastructure. This is about the killer applications that will define Sei as the de facto DeSci chain. A few examples of what I’m excited about include cross-jurisdictional health data management, frictionless capital formation, enterprise solutions that bridge DeSci into legacy institutions.

While the first wave of DeSci (funding DAOs, community governed R&D and IP tokenization protocols) have laid the groundwork, it’s time to build beyond the bubble on a performant tech stack. DeSci V2 looks at the frictionless onboarding of non-crypto-natives, a key characteristic that has held DeSci back. Given recent spending cutbacks in the likes of the NIH, coupled with growing crypto adoption, now is the time to redirect intellectual capital towards DeSci rails.

Crypto makes the value flow of money, access to tools and talent in the sciences easier. It serves as an enabler to accelerate drug discovery from bench-to-bedside, empower patients and improve healthcare outcomes. It brings aspects of the Web3 economy into the sciences, improving outcomes for patients, innovators and funders alike.

Why DeSci on Sei?

Sei’s infrastructure enables scientific applications that were previously constrained by high gas fees, slow finality and poor user experiences to thrive. Sei recently released the Giga roadmap which will see Sei delivering a throughput of 5 gigagas per second - the fastest execution speed compared to other EVM blockchains. Transaction speed matches the likes of the NASDAQ, enabling Web2 performance levels with a Web3 application layer. This significantly outperforms current blockchain standards.

The opportunity: abstracting away the DeFi layer, science demands massive datasets, reliable storage, substantial compute power. It also requires secure access to health data across jurisdictions. Sei's infrastructure makes this possible while maintaining the core benefits of blockchain. With Sei's stack and committed capital, we now have an unprecedented opportunity to scale killer DeSci applications beyond current limitations. This is why we’re making a bet on the future of DeSci.

DeSci V2 Pillars:

TLDR; Real world applications vs. theory. In my opinion, these are the key areas of opportunity for DeSci V2, broken down into actionable categories.

1. Biotech

Early stage research:
- Research publishing with crypto community-orientated incentives: democratizing access while rewarding contribution
- AI-enabled asynchronous drug discovery and financing
- Scientific and medical identity verification to establish credibility
Later stage biotech:
- Crypto as a financial layer to access working capital: open science capital markets
- Decentralized foundry networks to spin up and finance biotech companies in lesser funded disease areas and conditions
Clinical trial optimization:
- Population health data management
- Privacy-preserving data sharing protocols

2. Infrastructure

Patient data management:
- "Worldcoin” for health data that gives patients control over medical records with privacy-preserving mechanisms
Enterprise solutions:
- Decentralized storage networks for specified use cases, e.g. cross-jurisdictional patient data management
Research data marketplaces:
- Regulatory-compliant data marketplaces with token gated access and incentive alignment
Hardware meets software:
- Tamper-proof data collection
- Decentralized sensor networks for data aggregation (e.g. clinical and environmental)
IoT and AI data verification:
- Healthcare record analysis with predictive AI to build decentralized validation networks for IoT data streams

3. Healthcare and Consumer Tech

I believe the next DeSci trend will address personal health data, coupled with AI agent-enabled protocols for healthcare optimization

Preventative care and longevity:
- Gamified health protocols; the Quantified Self
- Consumer health optimization with reward systems modelled after e.g. airline loyalty programs
- Wearables integrations (e.g. Whoop, Oura on chain)
- On-chain "health twins" with AI-enabled concierge plug-ins

4. Athletics and Entertainment

Sports and athletics:
- Micro sponsorship platforms connecting top athletes, brands and supporters
- ‘Move-to-earn’ activity-based reward systems
- Community-funded activities and leagues
- Community-owned collectibles and experiences
Academic social layer:
- Scientific social networks, think “Farcaster for science”

5. Climatology and Bioengineering

Science oracles for real-world data:
- Environmental data aggregation for downstream usage, improving global health outcomes
Biosecurity mechanisms:
- Access control systems preventing the misuse of e.g. synthetic organisms, certain genetic constructs and technologies

DeSci V2 marks a decisive shift from theory to real-world applications. With Sei's new tech stack and committed capital from the Sapien Fund, we're ready to go beyond current constraints. These pillars aren't exhaustive - they're a launchpad for the DeSci-curious who are already active or just starting to tinker.

We're inviting builders across biotech, healthcare and the broader sciences to join this mission. While these pillars will be further developed in future thought leadership pieces, the real evolution of DeSci V2 will be written by you: the builders and community members. The infrastructure is ready, the capital is committed. Now is the time to build the future of DeSci on Sei. Onward.

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