PsyDAO changes how psychedelic science and art happen.
How? We're using blockchain technology to enable wide participation.
Part of the Bio.xyz network that has deployed over $15 million into decentralized science, PsyDAO has a broad mission to improve the human condition.
Why This Matters
We face unprecedented mental health crises: 100,000 annual overdose deaths in America, skyrocketing depression rates, and teen suicide epidemics. Much of life is not colorful enough. Traditional research funding is slow and bureaucratic, often excluding the communities that created psychedelic knowledge in the first place—from indigenous peoples to counterculture pioneers.
Our solution: Use Web3 technology to create participatory research funding, ensure fair compensation for Indigenous knowledge holders, and accelerate development of life-saving psychedelic treatments. We build a portfolio of valuable intellectual property and share potential rewards across our entire community through token ownership.
How Our Governance Works
PsyDAO uses an innovative two-token system based on Elinor Ostrom’s Nobel Prize-winning theories of commons governance:
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PSY tokens: Tradeable like Bitcoin, but each token represents voting power in research funding decisions. We raised our initial treasury of $2M by selling PSY tokens directly to those who wish to become a part of our ecosystem and vote on its direction. As our ecosystem expands, so too will the utility of $PSY as psychedelic cultural currency
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PSYC tokens: Non-transferable membership NFTs bound to a digital and real-world Shipibo art piece called kené. PSYC holders have additional governance and IP rights in the DAO, outlined here. We currently have 34 PSYC members with deep psychedelic knowledge from a variety of disciplines who provide strategic oversight to PsyDAO. Additional PSYC slots are minted along a fibonacci scale, progressively decentralizing the DAO.
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Governance process: Community members propose projects → $PSYC holders vet proposals → $PSY holders vote on final funding decisions.
Intellectual Property Tokens
One way that we decentralize psychedelic science with tokens. For each project we fund, we create tokens that anyone can purchase to support and become involved in a project.
The first token we create upon funding a project is an IP-NFT, which represents the project’s intellectual property (broadly defined) on the Ethereum blockchain ledger. We then create a pool of tokens called IP tokens (IPTs). These tokens represent a stake in a project, and can be freely traded on decentralized exchanges. PsyDAO’s goal is to create and share psychedelic intellectual property in a “commons”.
Any individual abiding by the co-governed rules of the commons can access its benefits - a radically different approach to territorial psychedelic IP trends we’ve seen this decade.
What We're Building
Decentralized Art & Science Funding Pipeline: Our primary mandate is to pool resources and vote on how the resources are used to support our mission. To that end, we’ve constructed and enacted a deal pipeline which balances community alignment, expert diligence, and decentralized decision-making to make funding choices.
Early Career Fellowship: Our first fellow, Zeus Tipado, was accepted this year to develop deoxymethoxetamine (DMXE), a dissociative compound that may offer advantages over ketamine for treating certain health disorders.
BeeARD AI System: Multi-agent platform that scours scientific literature to identify promising research opportunities, featuring GraphSurfer for immersive knowledge exploration.
Indigenous Partnerships: KenéCafé, the first café owned entirely by Shipibo people on the Amazon River, plus Kené Life e-commerce and art licensing platform ensuring that royalties from art sales reach Shipibo artists.
Community Impact: PsyCARE harm reduction tents at festivals have literally saved lives, while token farming programs connect our community to the broader decentralized science ecosystem.
Get Involved
Buy PSY tokens to participate in funding decisions and governance votes. Participate in a working group to connect with other members and find a project to work on. Contribute time, labor, and/or expertise to become eligible for PSYC core membership. Apply for funding, grants, or even a fellowship through our various programs supporting diverse creators, builders, and researchers.
PsyDAO represents the convergence of ancient wisdom and cutting-edge technology, creating new pathways for healing while ensuring fair compensation for knowledge holders. From AI-powered research discovery to Amazon riverside cafés protecting Indigenous IP, we're building the infrastructure for a more participatory and equitable approach to psychedelic science.
Ready to participate in the future of psychedelic research?
DAOs are powered by regular people working toward their passions. If you believe in the power of psychedelics and Web3 and want to contribute to PsyDAO, please: