Can a Meme Coin Fund the Future of Scientific Research?

What if meme cash might be leveraged for one thing extra significant past hypothesis, hype, and the occasional rug pull?

How about scientific analysis and increasing human life?

That’s the imaginative and prescient behind Pump.Science, a decentralized science protocol impressed by the favored Solana-based meme coin launchpad, Pump.Fun.

On Thursday, Pump.Science opened the doorways to its on-line storefront, the place the general public should buy dietary supplements created by researchers using the platform.

The primary product, Urolithin A, claims to assist mobile well being by restoring mitophagy, which recycles broken mitochondria to spice up power and counter age-related decline.

As Pump.Science co-founder Benjamin Leibowitz defined that the FDA’s oversight of dietary supplements varies primarily based on a number of elements, together with their substances and whether or not they have a historical past of protected consumption in widespread meals.

“Solely dietary supplements that meet particular standards should undergo the FDA,” Leibowitz instructed Decrypt. “Issues which might be naturally occurring, which have been within the meals that we eat—there are particular standards for dietary supplements that don’t must undergo the FDA. It is referred to as ‘usually thought to be protected.’

That regulatory distinction permits Pump.Science to introduce longevity-related dietary supplements to the market extra shortly than conventional pharmaceutical merchandise, aligning with its strategy to decentralized scientific funding.

Launched in September 2024 at Solana Breakpoint by Benjamin Leibowitz, Paul Kohlhass, and Jillian Casalini, Pump.Science is a platform on the Solana blockchain that allows researchers to tokenize experiments, making a market for early-stage longevity compounds and dietary supplements.

“Pump.Science attracts inspiration from Pump.Enjoyable, and we needed to fulfill customers the place they’re,” Leibowitz mentioned. “What made Pump.Enjoyable profitable is how simple it’s to launch a meme coin. We need to make launching a science experiment simply as simple.”

Pump that scientific analysis

Pump.Science is a part of a rising sector of Web3 often called Decentralized Science or DeSci for brief. Decentralized Science makes use of blockchain and decentralized finance to make analysis extra clear, collaborative, and fewer reliant on conventional monetary establishments.

Private and non-private sector funding in longevity analysis surpassed $5 billion within the first half of 2024, down from $9 billion in 2022. Including to funding issues, the U.S. Nationwide Institute of Well being lower indirect analysis grant prices to a flat 15% in February.

“Enterprise capital cash doesn’t go into extending lifespan—it goes into medicine as a result of they’re probably the most worthwhile,” Leibowitz mentioned. “That’s simply how the system works; they comply with the revenue.”

Leibowitz mentioned these obstacles make decentralized finance an interesting various for longevity researchers. By utilizing smart contracts, DAOs, and tokenized incentives, DeSci goals to allow direct funding, open publishing, and peer-to-peer validation, decreasing bias and boundaries whereas making certain higher accessibility and integrity in scientific discovery.

How Pump.Science works

The thought behind Pump.Science is to supply a tokenized analysis pipeline that guides tasks from preliminary proposals to commercialization. Researchers submit concepts, launch tokens to boost funds, and conduct experiments in phases.

The Tokenized Analysis Pipeline

• Concept Submission: Scientists suggest a analysis venture and pay a 3 SOL price.
• Worm Trials: The primary stage exams compounds in worms.
• Fly Trials: If outcomes are promising, analysis strikes to fruit flies.
• Mouse Trials: Additional validation happens in mice by means of endurance exams.
• Human Trials: Members use wearable know-how like Apple Watches or Fitbits.
• Commercialization: The compound may be offered as a complement if demand exists.

When addressing issues about transparency and integrity, Leibowitz emphasised the safeguards that Pump.Science has put in place.

“We work with extremely respected, white-labeled labs. They have to reside stream knowledge for accountability, and we keep a full audit path—receipts for every little thing, together with ordered compounds,” he mentioned. “Our contracts additionally prohibit insider buying and selling, making certain labs cannot commerce these tokens.

The bottom line is partnering with credible labs that comply with well-validated procedures.”

Whereas he didn’t go into particular particulars, Leibowitz mentioned the labs are compensated for his or her analysis.

Leibowitz acknowledges the issue of attracting analysis labs to the platform whereas conserving the neighborhood engaged—particularly throughout a downturn within the cryptocurrency market.

“At a $400 million market cap, it was simple to draw consideration and direct it,” he mentioned. “Nonetheless, since token costs dropped, conserving an engaged neighborhood has been extremely tough.”

Past market fluctuations, he famous that the higher problem is balancing a long-term imaginative and prescient with a neighborhood usually centered on short-term good points.

“We’re not a meme coin; we’re constructing infrastructure to assist folks reside longer,” Leibowitz mentioned. “However when the neighborhood solely cares in regards to the token value, and that value is falling past our management, that has been the toughest half.”

By adopting the identical playbook as meme cash, Pump.Science goals to draw crypto merchants and fanatics to the world of scientific funding.

As a substitute of passively donating to analysis, token holders take part in a system the place buying and selling quantity itself funds experiments, making a self-sustaining cycle of funding and discovery.

“The important thing facet right here is gamification, however that is extra thrilling than meme cash since there’s at all times new knowledge to investigate and buying and selling selections to make,” Leibowitz mentioned. “In case you’re a gamer, there is a sport to play as knowledge will get launched—we simply must make it enjoyable.

“Making science fulfilling will entice extra folks,” he mentioned.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair