Coinbase CEO’s ResearchHub Raises $5M, Revamps Scientific Research

• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s startup ResearchHub has raised $5 million in a Series A fundraising round.
• The platform helps users earn cryptocurrency rewards for contributing to scientific research and knowledge.
• The round was led by Open Source Software Capital with participation from Boost VC, Bob Young, Guillermo Rauch, and Amjad Masad.

ResearchHub Raises $5M in Funding

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s startup ResearchHub has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round to help accelerate the pace of scientific research using cryptocurrency. The round was led by Open Source Software Capital with participation from Boost VC, RedHat’s Bob Young, Vercel’s Guillermo Rauch and Replit’s Amjad Masad.

Accelerate Scientific Research with Cryptocurrency Rewards

ResearchHub is building a platform that allows anyone to earn crypto rewards for contributing new knowledge to the global scientific community. Users earn ResearchCoin (RSC) for publishing content to ResearchHub based on how valuable the community perceives it to be.

Broken Model of Science Reimaginged

Funders of science projects rely on citation-based metrics to judge the quality of an academic researcher; however, this model is broken and wasteful according to Armstrong and co-founder Patrick Joyce. They believe that science should operate more like open-source software.

Tools for Researchers

The web application hosts a suite of publishing and collaboration tools that help researchers draft new manuscripts and share them with the world. Over time, they hope to iterate towards a reward structure that channels resources reliably towards the most valuable minds on researchhub.

Conclusion

With this new funding, ResearchHub will continue its mission of helping researchers receive rewards for their contribution while also rethinking how science operates using cryptocurrency rewards as incentive instead of citations alone.