Written by Lina Pauline Schrott and Manuel Olariu

At the core of the DeSci movement lies the goal of creating an open scientific ecosystem where many more people are able to participate in and fund science without needing a PHD or being at the epicenter of scientific hubs. This component of being permissionless and open has huge potential to accelerate innovation. At Gitcoin we aim to serve as a catalyst of that movement.

The total of the matching pools of the 3 DeSci rounds that have run on Gitcoin stands at over $650K. Not only that but the rounds came with the side effect of enabling and unlocking an incredibly rich community.

A Journey Through Rounds

The DeSci rounds on Gitcoin emerged from the Longevity Cause Rounds (GG12-GR14), which transitioned focus to the broader DeSci ecosystem for GG15. Keith Comito, although he didn't directly steward the DeSci round, provided crucial advisory support. His major contributions included creating high-traffic articles and videos that promoted Gitcoin and DeSci, significantly raising public awareness and engagement. Keith's media outreach included influential pieces on platforms such as CoinTelegraph and Lifespan.io, significantly boosting the visibility of the DeSci rounds.

Through his advisory role and extensive publicity work, Keith helped shape the early success of the DeSci rounds on Gitcoin.

The Genesis Round

The inaugural DeSci Round in late 2022 marked a pivotal moment for those advocating for decentralized approaches to scientific research and was a fundamental milestone for the DeSci community.

With the support of notable partners like Protocol Labs, Vitalik Buterin, Stefan George, Ethereum Foundation, SCRF (Smart Contract Research Forum), Molecule, Orange DAO, GreenPillCN, AlchemixFi, and Springer Nature, the genesis DeSci Round during GG15 galvanized significant support, attracting 2,309 donors who crowdfunded $67.9k to support over 82 projects. Leveraging matching contributions from various partners, the total pool exceeded $567k. This initial round had a significant impact on many projects that used the funds to do research, grow their communities, and develop new tools and services. As highlighted in the DeSci Landscape Analysis, it also showed the need for more consistent funding streams, market fit exploration, and the desire to understand what other projects were building, so it would be easy to collaborate and grow the ecosystem together.

Vincent Weisser played a crucial role in initiating and executing the DeSci (Decentralized Science) Round during GR15. This effort was significantly supported by various key figures within the Gitcoin and DeSci communities. The notable contributors include Kydo, Shady, Erik, Eugene, Ben, Janine, Annika, Caro, J Ringo, Azeem, Carl, Vishnu, Sage, Umar, James, Scott, and Joseph Cook, among many others.

Gitcoin Beta

For the Gitcoin Beta Round, a community-led initiative emerged, spearheaded by Gitcoin’s previous DeSci lead, Boris Dyakov. Seeking to sustain the continuous funding of ecosystem growth in DeSci, Boris rallied previous sponsors to continue funding the efforts.

An onchain election using the Jokerace platform was established to elect 4 round stewards from the DeSci community including Boris Dyakov, Manuel Olariu from Deep Venture DAO, Sarah Rouse from SpaceBioDAO, Jelani Clark and Carolina Menchaca from DeSci World.

The DeSci stewards were elected to oversee decision-making and grantee review, securing sponsorship totaling $75K.

According to the reportcard, the Beta round attracted 267 donors who crowdfunded $18.6k to support these 65 projects.

After this last round in May 2023, Manuel Olariu continued to organize DeSci on Gitcoin while several community leaders stepped up to support this effort for sustainable ecosystem growth in Decentralized Science.

Celebrating Successes of GG20

With a matching pool of $25K, the #GG20 round supported 29 projects, attracting 250 individual donors who collectively contributed $8.5K in funding.

Notably, Jeffrey Koury from Research Hub Foundation and Sky Mine from the PublicNouns Community funded the GG20 matching pool.

GG20 operators included Swift Evo from DeSci Asia, Maria Goreti Freitas from DeScier, Lana Ugrcic and Tomislav Mamic from Blocksplit, and Manuel Olariu who stepped up to make the round a reality.

The DeSci round garnered the most community likes out of all the rounds in the Gitcoin Governance proposal for Community Rounds.

The DeSci round in #GG20 was the first multi-language Gitcoin Grants round that engaged and enabled community members to submit projects in a variety of languages including English, Chinese and Spanish. Swift Evo and Twone organized X spaces together with Uncommons and the Global Chinese Community of Universal Digital Commons to onboard DeSci communities in Asia.

Despite being a relatively small community, the DeSci round boasted a solid core of grantees, operators, and supporters who have demonstrated unwavering commitment and enthusiasm.

A Vision for the Future

The essence of a successful round extends beyond allocation of funds; it lies in the invaluable exposure to a like-minded community and the opportunities for networking and collaboration it presents. The DeSci round exemplifies this ethos, serving as a catalyst for forging long-term, collaborative connections in the DeSci ecosystem.

The stewards and operators envision the DeSci round becoming more than just a round—it aims to serve as an ecosystem governance framework, empowering stakeholders to shape the future of decentralized science.

As the round evolves, experimenting with incentive structures and forging new partnerships is a priority. By implementing tools like Hypercerts and Karma GAP, the round seeks to enhance impact measurement for grantees, driving accountability and transparency.

If you want to learn more and get involved please follow the DeSci Round Ops on X and join the DeSci Gitcoin Telegram to stay up-to-date about the next DeSci Round on Gitcoin.

Interested in participating in the next round with Gitcoin as a community round? Proposals are now open for GG21!

Take part in celebrating DeSci’s success on Gitcoin, and directly contribute to the funding of digital public goods through Gitcoin Grants. All proceeds from this NFT will go towards Gitcoin Grants’ matching pool.