Blockchain Technology is an ever expanding industry which commenced as FinTech as a means to provide an additional means to participate in financial markets outside the current norms. The word most commonly associated with FinTech on Blockchain or developed on Blockchains is referred to as Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
Currently the total market cap for Decentraised Finance, that is people utilising crypto in lending or borrowing is USD43 Billion. Predominantly the chain that holds the majority of that value is Ethereum holding almost 22% of the Decentralised Financial market.
Decentralised Finance may also include participating in staking, hedging risk and speculating on price movements in order to return a profit and there are an abundance of projects and protocols out there to enable such trades.
Blockchain's have continued to delve into further operations that are found outside of the online realm and the common term added to things is either De or Fi. De representing Decentralised which means no single owner ship and Fi which traditionally meant Finance has been adopted for other initiatives like gaming where that is referred to as GameFi. Although GameFi does often relate to the ability of being able to earn finances in the form of a specific Crypto Currency
Just about everything can be found on a Blockchain these days with a lot of movement focusing on ease of supply chain that can help track purchase orders and logistics across an entire supply chain. It has been growing in traction and soon most supply chains will be automated utilising Blockchain technology. Although, we are not certain on how many of these will be decentralised and enable every day investors to buy into them. Blockchains, don't need to be decentralised which is what we are seeing with Banks that are launching their own.
Now, a new De is emerging one that is looking at providing some benefits beyond the current status que and is seeking to advance human development. DeSci which focuses on Decentralising Scientific research and enabling anyone to research anything so long as the community backs it and funds it is emerging.
Not only that, but DeSci also aims to make scientific information more readily available across the world and developing a new model to enable peer review of research articles that are confirmed on a blockchain.
It's quite an impressive development and does raise some questions as DeSci alleges the current scientific community holds a corporate monopoly on information, grants and patents. DeSci wishes to challenge the current model and drive in a new era of science backed by the community.
Currently there are four DeSci protocols that appear to have established this industry being:
Impact Finance: Which currently seeks to save our planet through establishing a new cooperative economy that is centered around communities. It aims to implement this through DeSci by providing open access scientific research that is transparent and funded by communities.
VitaDAO: Which is a community owned DAO that is focusing it's research efforts on extending human life and tackle age related disease and illness. The DAO also states it provides funding to community research projects also researching in this field.
SCINET: Has a larger project goal focusing on securing IP, funding for projects, enhanced research utilising Blockchain technology as well as decentralised published peer review process. It also allows investors to invest in scientific projects that they are interested in.
DeSci Labs: This one is a little beyond my scope of comprehension as I am not a science person but it appears to be developing a FREE archive of research papers and data. They're more about building the Blockchain infrastructure to support DeSci I believe.
You might be wondering why all this is important? Because DeSci is about to get it's first run to see if it is actually beneficial.
Incase you missed it, someone created a superconductor out of basic and readily available elements all of which aren't patented or owned. You could do this in your backyard (don't try it). But if someone comes up with a system that can increase energy efficiency this will aid the fight against global warming.
A lot of energy is lost just in transporting, getting from the powerplant to where it is going in a process called leeching. It's like a water tube having lots of tiny holes around the place. The water will still arrive but a long the journey a lot of water will be lost out of the holes.
So being able to develop a superconductor that can increase say, solar energy storage and transfer or even just coal fire power plants will have significant benefits to humanity and reduce energy costs (lets be honest, companies aren't getting cheaper we have been reducing energy use and prices still go up...)
But nonetheless, now there is something for DeSci to sink it's teeth in, perhaps Hive community could put together a submission and see what can be done. The water project was amazing, energy would be pretty impressive.
image sources provided supplemented by canva pro subscription. This is not financial advice. Readers are advised to undertake their own research or seek professional financial services.
