BIO tripled in three days, is DeSci an old tree blooming anew?

Author｜Wenser (@wenser 2010 )

In the gradually warming cryptocurrency market, BIO, once hailed as the “light of the DeSci track,” has also delivered an impressive performance: its price briefly broke $0.066 on May 3rd, staging a doubling rally within 3 days. Nearly a year and a half after the DeSci (Decentralized Science) craze at the end of 2024, Bio Protocol, once sporting the “Binance Launchpool project” halo, is now riding the wave of the AI era with the slogan “Agent Pays for Science.” Whether this is an old tree blossoming anew or a pump-and-dump scheme, the answer may soon be revealed.

Bio Protocol’s Old and New Narratives: From DeSci to Agentic DeSci

Examining the drivers behind BIO’s price increase, in my view, the most important is its alignment with the new narrative of the AI era: evolving from decentralized science research to AI Agent and agent-driven decentralized science research.

This is not only a more refined market positioning but also a crucial step in injecting new vitality into the Bio Protocol ecosystem. Specifically, Bio Protocol’s key actions are as follows:

• BioXP System: Built on the Bio Protocol V2 staking system, the BioXP system allows for priority participation in Ignition Sales, increased allocation quotas, and accumulation of veBIO (governance voting power). This is the foundational framework for the long-term development of the ecosystem.
• Financial Backing: In September last year, Bio Protocol completed a $6.9 million seed round led by Arthur Hayes’ Maelstrom Fund, with participation from Mechanism Capital, Animoca Brands, Presto Labs, and others, to advance the AI-driven Launchpad and BioAgents. It had previously also received investment from Yzi Labs (formerly Binance Labs). Ample funding is a necessary guarantee for continued development through bull and bear market cycles.
• BioAgent Launchpad：The Launchpad platform, built in conjunction with the BioAgents platform, champions the concept of “allowing anyone to deploy DeSci AI Agents.” The latest Ignition Sale project,PeptAI, launched on May 1st. It was 5.9 times oversubscribed within 30 minutes, and as of May 4th, it was oversubscribed by 12.7 times ($633,000, with a token launch FDV calculated at $1 million and a token price of $0.1). Currently, over 700 participants are involved. The sale lasts for 14 days, ending at 9 PM on May 14th. Regarding token allocation: 20% of the total PEPTAI supply will be airdropped to BIO stakers (veBIO holders, with a 6-month linear unlock); 5% is offered through the public Ignition Sale; those without BioXP can participate by minting with BIO or staking to qualify. Thus, through the Launchpad sale mechanism, Bio Protocol has formed a positive cycle: “Stake BIO tokens → Earn BioXP points → Participate in project sales → Engage in community governance.”

According to official data, the total fundraising size of the Bio ecosystem has exceeded $50 million, with a community of approximately 90,000 members.

Driven by this new flywheel effect, the BIO token continued its upward trend within just 3 days, surging from around $0.03 to $0.066, before temporarily retreating to around $0.06.

Of course, narrative updates and project iterations are one side of the story; the other focal point for the market is whether the Bio Protocol team’s actions constitute active market making or a pump-and-dump strategy.

Pump-and-Dump or Active Market Making? A Look at the Bio Protocol Team’s Ambitions

On the morning of May 3rd, crypto analyst Ai Yi @ai_9684xtpa monitored that BIO had surged 118% over the past week. On the same day, the multi-signature address of the Bio Protocol project team transferred 120 million BIO to 3 addresses, of which approximately 80 million were deposited into OKX and Binance, valued at about $5.031 million.

On the other hand, Binance had previously announced that it would add the BIO/U trading pair to margin trading at 16:00 (UTC+8) on April 28, 2026, adding fuel to BIO’s rally on the leverage trading front.

Currently, BIO’s market cap stands at approximately $127 million, still significantly lower than its peak market cap of $1.1 billion in early 2025. Furthermore, the team’s operation did not cause major volatility in BIO’s price. Combined with the broader crypto market recovery above $80,000, BIO’s price could potentially experience continued upward momentum.

More importantly, the research related to PeptAI, the latest Ignition Sale project in the Bio Protocol ecosystem, has entered the wet lab experimentation phase. Operating under a model of “autonomous AI Agent decision-making + on-chain information transparency,” this, to some extent, pushes the DeSci track—often previously confined to the proof-of-concept stage—towards the real business phase of a “replicable drug discovery production line.”

From this perspective, the ambitions of the Bio Protocol team have never been small. After all, they are seeking to leverage a medical market sector valued at trillions of dollars.

Of course, considering the niche nature and regulatory hurdles of the DeSci track, in the short term, BIO’s price performance for the year will still heavily depend on conceptual hype.

Recommended Reading:

The Light of DeSci? A Deep Dive into Binance Launchpool’s Latest Project, BIO

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