By
Bhushan Akolkar
May 17th, 2024
The startup is setting up a platform that will reward (in crypto) anyone who contributes new knowledge to the global science community
ResearchHub, a crypto-based startup focused on advancing scientific research, may have just concluded a $5 million funding round. According to an official announcement, the round was led by Open Source Software Capital. Participation in the funding also came from Guillermo Rauch, Replit’s Amjad Masad, and RedHat’s Bob Young among others.
ResearchHub to Deploy New Model of Funding
According to ResearchHub co-founders Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Patrick Joyce, the common model of funding science projects is “wasteful”. They claimed that, in the past, funders are only inclined to support science projects based on the number of citations. As a result, scientists rather focused more on optimizing their research to get as many citations as possible than on quality. This, so they can secure funding.
Now, however, ResearchHub believes that should not be the case and that science should operate more like open-source software.
To this end, the startup is setting up a platform that will reward (in crypto) anyone at all who contributes new knowledge to the global science community.
ResearchHub claims that users will earn ResearchCoin (RSC) for publishing content on the platform. However, the catch would be that the amount of RSC earned would be proportionate to the value of the content. That is, how quality the science community perceived such content.
In a blog post, ResearchHub shared that it will use some of its new funding to expand its platform. This is so it can reach more scientists globally. The remaining fund will then be invested in new features and tools that will make its science community as valuable and as efficient as possible.
Ultimately, ResearchHub hopes to change the face of funding and reward quality rather than quantity. Part of its post reads:
“Over time, we hope to iterate towards a ResearchCoin reward structure that channels resources to the best and the brightest minds on ResearchHub in a reliable, evidence-based fashion.”
Read other crypto-related news on our website.