--- title: "Bio Protocol" url: "https://caper.network/wiki/desci/ecosystem/bio-xyz" updated: 2026-08-25 license: CC-BY-4.0 license_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" --- # Bio Protocol | | | | --- | --- | | **Type** | BioDAO launchpad & funding layer | | **Founded** | 2022 | | **Focus** | Biotech DAO incubation & funding | | **BioDAOs launched** | 10 on Bio's own ecosystem listing (read 25 August 2026); 11 counting [DermaLabs](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/dermalabs), which the listing omits | | **Token** | BIO — capped 3.32B supply | | **Genesis raise** | $33M+ (Nov 2024, Binance Labs' first DeSci investment) | | **Protocol version** | V2 – permissionless launcher, veBIO staking, Liquidity Engine | | **Chains** | Ethereum, Solana, Base | | **Website** | [bio.xyz](https://www.bio.xyz) | ## Overview Bio Protocol (formerly Bio.xyz) is a [decentralized funding, governance and liquidity engine for early-stage science](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/concepts/decentralized-science) — a protocol for directing capital and talent to biotech DAOs ("BioDAOs") and tokenized scientific IP. It incubates and funds specialized BioDAOs, each focused on a specific disease area or scientific domain. The platform raised over $33 million through Bio Genesis in November 2024, with Binance Labs making its first DeSci investment. In June 2026 it introduced [OpenLabs](https://crypto.news/bio-protocol-launches-ai-research-hub-to-challenge-grant-gatekeepers/), an AI research hub unveiled at DeSci.Berlin 2026 that folds idea development, contributor coordination and funding into a single interface. Bio Protocol runs the tokenization layer built on [Molecule](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/molecule). ## BIO, veBIO and BioXP under Bio Protocol V2 [BIO](https://www.bio.xyz/bio-token) is the protocol's native token, with a capped maximum supply of 3.32 billion. Its allocation is weighted toward the ecosystem it funds: roughly 34.9% to ecosystem incentives, 25% core contributors, 13.6% investors, 10.5% protocol treasury, 8% community auctions and 8% BioDAO incentives. **Bio Protocol V2 changed what that token does.** The earlier design asked BIO holders to stake on the BioDAOs they wanted admitted, making the token a curation gate on the pipeline. V2 replaced that with [two launch tracks](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/launcher): **Community Launches**, a permissionless track where any team meeting the launchpad's baseline criteria can launch on a standard template, and **Curated Launches**, a higher-touch track Bio selects into with bespoke tokenomics and post-launch market support. Admission to the permissionless track is no longer something token holders vote or stake a project through. What the token buys instead is **priority**. Every launch runs as an **Ignition Sale**: a fixed price, the same for all participants, denominated in USDC, all-or-nothing against a predefined raise goal – [if the goal is not met, every committed dollar is returned](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/launcher). The sales are [open to anyone with USDC and carry no BioXP gate](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/staking-and-vebio/bioxp); BioXP only decides who gets what when a sale is oversubscribed. A contributor who pledges no BioXP is counted as having pledged 1, the lowest priority weight. ### veBIO: a vote-escrow lock that does not yet vote Staking BIO mints **veBIO**, a [vote-escrowed](/wiki/dao-governance/concepts/voting/vote-escrow) balance. The lock runs from [one week to two years](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/staking-and-vebio/staking-bio) and the weight is `veBIO per BIO = weeks remaining in lock / 104`, decaying linearly toward the unlock date unless auto-renewal is left on. BIO cannot be withdrawn before the lock expires, and veBIO staking launched on Base only. The notable detail for anyone reading this as a governance design: **veBIO does not currently govern anything.** Bio's own documentation states that [BIO and vBIO remain the governance tokens of the protocol until veBIO gains sufficient adoption and a formal governance proposal is passed](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/staking-and-vebio/staking-bio). The escrow is live and accruing benefits while the voting right it is named for is still pending a vote. What veBIO does confer today is airdrop exposure. Every new token launched on the platform allocates a share of supply to veBIO holders, distributed [pro-rata with no cap](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/staking-and-vebio/vebio-rewards) and unlocking on an rEUL-style curve: 20% redeemable at TGE, the remaining 80% linearly over six months. Redeeming early **permanently forfeits** the still-locked remainder of that allocation, which is burned from supply. ### BioXP BioXP is the points layer that sets allocation priority. It is earned by staking BIO, by staking ecosystem assets (IP Tokens, BioAgent tokens and BioDAO tokens), or [minted on demand at $0.01 per XP, paid in BIO](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/staking-and-vebio/bioxp). Points from BIO staking are credited automatically each day; points from ecosystem-token staking must be claimed manually each day or they expire the next. All BioXP [expires 14 days after issue](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/staking-and-vebio/bioxp), which Bio describes as a deliberate check on concentration. Staking an ecosystem token is the looser of the two: [no lock duration, but a two-week unstaking cooldown](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/staking-and-vebio/staking-other-assets) during which points stop accruing immediately, and it yields no vote-escrow token of any kind. BioDAO tokens staked on Base include VITA, HAIR, NEURON, PSY, ATH, CRYO and GROW. Read as [DAO tokenomics](/wiki/dao-governance/concepts/treasury/dao-tokenomics), V2 is a deliberate retreat from governance-by-token toward access-by-commitment: the token no longer decides which science gets funded, it decides who gets to the front of the queue when the market wants in. ## The Liquidity Engine The [Liquidity Engine](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/liquidity-engine) is the part of V2 that decides how a funded project keeps getting paid, and it is the clearest break from the one-off treasury raise that most [DAOs](/wiki/dao-governance/concepts/fundamentals/what-is-a-dao) launched on. Three mechanisms run together. - **Automatic pool seeding.** A successful Ignition Sale immediately creates a liquidity pool for the new token. For a standard agent launch, _all_ USDC raised is paired against the token, which accounts for 37.5% of supply. If the project later hits its milestones, a BIO/token pool is added alongside. This is [protocol-owned liquidity](/wiki/dao-governance/concepts/treasury/protocol-owned-liquidity) created at launch rather than rented with emissions. - **Limit-sell fundraising.** A reserved share of supply is not handed over at launch. Concentrated liquidity is placed at pre-set fully-diluted-valuation milestones, functioning as standing sell limit orders, and the proceeds unlock to the team only once the token reaches and **holds** that level for two weeks. Funding tracks sustained market traction rather than launch-day enthusiasm. - **Secondary-market fees.** A 1% fee applies to every buy and every sell of the project's token, split **70% to the project treasury and 30% to Bio Protocol**. For the project this is continuous non-dilutive revenue; for the protocol it is a claim on the trading volume of everything it launches. The design has an obvious edge. Tying a team's funding to a two-week-sustained valuation makes the treasury a function of the token chart, which is exactly the coupling [AthenaBIO](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/athenadao) moved away from when it routed institutional capital through an equity vehicle instead, on the reasoning that a freely-traded token price never reflects the value of the underlying science. Bio's answer is not to decouple the two but to make the coupling explicit and milestone-gated. ## BioDAO ecosystem Bio Protocol's own [ecosystem listing](https://www.bio.xyz/) carried **ten** BioDAOs when read on 25 August 2026 – the same ten as in the Internet Archive's [12 June 2026 capture](http://web.archive.org/web/20260612112102/https://www.bio.xyz/). The eleventh below, [DermaLabs](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/dermalabs), came off the same launchpad – its $SKIN Ignition Sale ran in December 2025 and Bio published its own [February 2026 profile](https://www.bio.xyz/blog-posts/every-bathroom-mirror-is-a-laboratory-how-dermalabs-is-rebuilding-skincare-science-from-the-ground-up) of it – but appears in neither capture of that listing, so a count taken off the listing and a count taken off the launchpad's own history do not agree. The BioAgents in the next section are counted separately: they hold a token and a treasury but no voting membership. - **[VitaDAO](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/vitadao)** — longevity research (initiated July 2021) - **[AthenaBIO](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/athenadao)** — women's health - **[PsyDAO](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/psydao)** — psychedelic science - **[ValleyDAO](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/valleydao)** — synthetic biology - **[HairDAO](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/hairdao)** — hair-loss research (patents its DAO-funded findings) - **[CryoDAO](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/cryodao)** — cryopreservation - **[Cerebrum DAO](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/cerebrum-dao)** — brain health - **[Curetopia](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/curetopia)** — rare diseases - **[Long COVID Labs](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/long-covid-labs)** — Long COVID research - **[Quantum Biology DAO](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/quantum-biology-dao)** — quantum biology - **[DermaLabs](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/dermalabs)** — skincare science ### BioAgents From 2026 the same Launcher also issues **BioAgents** — autonomous research agents that hold a token and a treasury without a voting membership. Aubrai came first; [PeptAI](/wiki/desci/ecosystem/peptai) is the one that has published wet-lab confirmation of an agent-designed candidate, and its [May 2026 Ignition Sale](https://www.bio.xyz/blog-posts/bio-monthly-may-2026-peptai-ignition-sale-bio-on-robinhood-vebio-staker-rewards) is the reference example of the mechanism described above. ## How Caper approaches this Bio Protocol is a launchpad: a shared curation-and-funding layer that stands up many BioDAOs, each of which then needs its own token, treasury and governance. A [caper](/wiki/foundations/what-is-a-caper) is the opposite shape — a single self-contained primitive where the fundraise (a [bonding curve](/wiki/markets/bonding-curve)), the treasury, the proposal system (PAYOUT / INVEST / DIVEST / VOTE) and a participation-weighted exit ship together. The two are complementary: an ecosystem curator answers "which projects deserve capital"; a caper answers "how does one funded community raise, spend and let members leave without stitching four tools together." ## External Links - [Bio Protocol — Official Website](https://www.bio.xyz) - [BIO Token — Overview & allocation](https://www.bio.xyz/bio-token) - [Bio Protocol Documentation](https://docs.bio.xyz/) - [Bio Protocol V2 - launcher, staking and liquidity engine (official docs)](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2) - [The Liquidity Engine - fee split and limit-sell fundraising](https://docs.bio.xyz/bio/introduction/bio-protocol-v2/liquidity-engine)