BIO goes live on V2, can the new Launchpad reignite the Desci craze?

Original author: kkk

Reprint: Daisy, Mars Finance

What should we pay attention to as $BIO surges?

Once regarded as the pioneer of the "fusion of scientific research and cryptocurrency," the leading project in the DeSci sector, $BIO, has faced significant pressure since its launch in January this year. Despite having top-tier investors backing it, including Vitalik Buterin and CZ, it still couldn't escape the dual impact of market conditions and liquidity, with its market capitalization shrinking by as much as 95% from its opening peak. This has made it the focal point of community dissatisfaction and skepticism, plunging a sector that previously produced billion-level market cap myths like $RIF and $URO into a low point.

However, with the recent official launch of the BIO Protocol V2 version, which introduces new mechanisms such as Launchpad and staking points, the total amount staked exceeded 100 million BIO within a week, and the market value quickly doubled, surpassing 200 million USD, reigniting market attention and imagination towards the DeSci track.

Why has the luxurious lineup of $BIO fallen from grace?

The listing story of BIO was originally a highlight moment in the DeSci track: leading exchanges like Binance, OKX, and Kraken all joined in, with the trading volume on the first day of TGE exceeding 2 billion USD, and the FDV once reaching 250 million USD, making it the most sensational issuance of scientific crypto assets at the beginning of 2025. However, behind the excitement lay the seeds of a price drop.

However, the heat of this feast did not last long. BIO adopted an auction model for its issuance, with an initial circulation proportion higher than that of most new coins. Coupled with the inflated valuation upon listing, it appeared overpriced in the absence of immediate utility. In the early stages, market buyers were more driven by narrative and sentiment rather than practical value. As key features like Launchpad, staking system, and BioXP points remained in the planning stage, investors quickly realized that the tokens in their hands could not bring actual returns from participation or governance rights in the short term. The gap between valuation and use cases became the first force driving the price down from its highs.

The decline of BIO is closely related to rhythm issues. The core functionality failed to launch synchronously on the day of the TGE, causing confidence to begin to wane during the market's waiting period. Meanwhile, the arrangement of Molecule Catalyst operating an independent Launchpad for ecological expansion has diverted funds and attention, weakening the cohesion of the main platform. Additionally, the macro market has entered a phase of reduced risk appetite, with funds rapidly withdrawing from high FDV projects that lack immediate cash flow. The absence of ongoing support from news and the coordination of product launch rhythm has led BIO, once a star project at the beginning of the year, to gradually fall into a trough of thin trading and price exploration.

The resurgence of BIO Protocol

Build a research acceleration experimental field

In the first half of 2025, BIO Protocol has gone through a tumultuous journey – sliding from the narrative peak at the beginning of the year to a price low, yet not slowing its pace even a bit. It has not only delivered the most dazzling market results in the DeSci track but also pushed several biopharmaceuticals right to the doorstep of clinical trials, allowing "on-chain research" to smell the scent of real medical validation for the first time.

The price pullback did not deter the team's ambition; instead, it led to more construction activities: in May, BIO postponed the unlocking of the team and advisors through community governance, sending a signal to the market that "we are here for the long haul." The research progress is equally impressive—VitaRNA and VitaFAST both launched clinical trials in the UAE, taking only 11 months from concept to enrollment, while traditional models often require 4–6 years; 14 compounds predicted by AI to have a success rate of over 85% are waiting for efficacy results in Q3. Meanwhile, five new BioDAOs, including QBIO, Long Covid Labs, Curetopia, SpineDAO, and MycoDAO, have been established one after another, raising a total of 8.9 million dollars within the year, providing continuous fuel for this high-speed research machine.

V2: Transition from DeSci 1.0 to DeSci 2.0

In addition, the BIO team officially launched Bio Protocol V2 in August, aiming to bring research financing and execution into "high-speed mode" to address the pain points of the DeSci 1.0 phase, such as high FDV at launch, lack of instant functionality, and ecological fragmentation.

The core of V2 lies in four major engines:

Low FDV Fixed Price Launch: Referring to the successful paths of Pump.fun and Virtuals, V2 will reduce the project's initial valuation to $205,000 FDV, with 35% of tokens sold directly. All raised $BIO will be injected into the liquidity pool, ensuring depth and price momentum from the start, tightly binding the community with the project.

BioXP Points System: Quantifies behaviors such as staking, LP, on-chain interactions, and social dissemination into points, and links them to the DeSci Score. Points are valid for 14 days and are used to allocate quotas for low FDV projects, with highly engaged users continuously enjoying priority opportunities.

Staking & veBIO: Staking BIO not only earns point bonuses but also grants governance voting rights; staking other assets within the ecosystem yields higher point returns, encouraging support for the entire network.

Liquidity Engine: Automatically generates LP after the initial launch, charging a 1% transaction fee on each trade in the secondary market (70% goes to the project treasury, 30% goes to the protocol), forming a positive cycle of "active trading - increased research funding - advancement of results - renewed market enthusiasm."

Accelerate landing, welcome the new cycle of DeSci

VitaRNA and VitaFAST are bringing DeSci from concept to reality. The two drugs will simultaneously advance trials in the UAE, Singapore, and Switzerland, with the hope of becoming the first drug cases fully funded by DeSci to enter clinical stages at a cost of less than $500,000 within two years. This not only breaks the traditional barriers of drug development, which can take years and cost tens of millions of dollars, but also sets a benchmark for on-chain scientific research. Meanwhile, BIO is collaborating with Pfizer to explore a compliant Intellectual Property Tokenization (IPT) model, establishing a new mechanism for capital circulation and value distribution in future drug development.

Bio Protocol will launch a decentralized research agency that automates key research processes such as drug screening, clinical operations, and funding allocation. The upcoming BIO Copilot will serve as an on-chain research assistant for scientists, advancing research to a programmable, scalable, and machine-collaboration-driven phase, allowing research to no longer be constrained by human bottlenecks, but instead enter an intelligent trajectory of high-frequency iterations.

In addition, the capital and market flywheel is quietly starting up. The Launchpad 2.0 plans to launch 10 to 20 low market cap projects in the coming months, covering areas such as Agents, IPT, and research tools, with an average fundraising of $70,000. The Base chain will go live first, followed closely by Solana. Meanwhile, the "Founding LP Program" is attracting liquidity providers willing to invest over $100,000 in BIO LP, offering returns enhancement, points bonuses, priority allocation, and exclusive support as rewards for participants. Drawing on the flywheel model of high returns from projects like Virtuals, BIO aims to ignite a new wave of market enthusiasm, creating a closed loop of research funding flow, token flow, and information flow, driving the arrival of the "Scientific Singularity."

What is DeSci? A decentralized engine for accelerating scientific research.

If the operational logic of traditional science is like a large steam engine, then decentralized science (DeSci) is more like a high-speed electric motor – lighter, faster, and more transparent.

In the past, the funding sources for scientific research were almost firmly controlled by government foundations, academic institutions, and large pharmaceutical companies. A project often had to go through months or even years of approval processes from project application to funding arrival; research results were locked behind expensive paywalls, making it impossible for the general public to access data and papers for free, even for research projects funded by taxpayers. The storage of research data, the ownership of intellectual property, and the transformation of results were all tightly controlled by centralized institutions and processes. Although this model is stable, it also brings about low efficiency, conservatism, and a natural rejection of disruptive innovation.

DeSci aims to disrupt the traditional scientific ecosystem, which is top-down, slow, and closed. It uses the open ledger of blockchain to ensure that the flow of funds, progress of results, and data usage are fully transparent; it replaces small review committees with decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), allowing the fate of research projects to be decided by a broader community vote; it utilizes a tokenized incentive mechanism to deeply bind the interests of early supporters with research outcomes, thereby attracting more funds and talent. This model not only shortens the funding turnover cycle in scientific research but also breaks down disciplinary and regional barriers through global collaboration, providing opportunities for innovative ideas that would otherwise struggle to secure funding.

In this field, BIO Protocol is undoubtedly a representative and ambitious player. It not only provides early financing channels for biotech projects but also builds a complete set of infrastructure, including project screening, fundraising, on-chain liquidity management, data transparency, and research automation. Through BIO, researchers can "crowdfund" research funds directly from the global community like launching a crypto project; investors can intervene in the initial stages of the project and share profits when research results are commercialized. Compared to traditional research, BIO aims to create a scientific ecosystem where there is no need to wait for funding approvals, no single institution monopolizes, and everyone can participate and benefit.

Summary

BIO Protocol has experienced dramatic fluctuations from its high-profile debut at the beginning of the year to price lows in the middle of the year. Now, with the launch of version V2, it has achieved a phase rebound. The new low FDV debut, point staking, and liquidity mechanisms have injected new momentum into the ecosystem and reignited market interest in the DeSci track. However, whether this rebound can continue and bring stable returns for new investments still depends on the coordination of project implementation pace and market environment, with uncertainties remaining in the short term.