The ecosystem comprises two tokens: GENE, the primary utility token, and GNOME, strictly for governance in the GenomesDAO. This review focuses solely on the GENE token.
I rate the tokenomics of the GENE token highly for several reasons. The foremost reason is its "Value Capture."
What is Value Capture? Please see my blog post. https://cyrator.com/post/64763f738def171f2601cee3
How does Value Capture function in GENE tokenomics?
When researchers, pharmaceutical companies, universities, or any third party wish to query a portion of your gnome stored in the vault - a process called "genomic querying" - payment cannot be made in US Dollars or any other currency except for the GENE token. Moreover, when individuals decide to participate and allow their DNA to be accessed, they also get paid in GENE tokens.
Therefore, there is significant Value Capture built into the token by exclusively accepting GENE tokens for service calls to the vaults and as payment to the DNA holder (end users). This answers the question of why this project requires a token.
According to the whitepaper, "The market cap for genomic diagnostics is predicted to reach $100 Billion by 2028 and is currently valued at over $30 Billion. This market is supported by exponential demand."
If GenomesDAO can capture just 10% of the current $30 Billion market with the Value Capture integrated into the tokenomics, they predict a GENE token price of $10.19. Based on the current price (at the time of writing) of $0.0067, this would amount to a 1500X increase. This means that $50 invested in GENE today could potentially be worth $75K in a few years based on the current genomic diagnostics market!
Let's delve into a few other reasons I like these tokenomics.
The token has a deflationary aspect. 10% of the price of the genome sequencing kit or the NFT packages sold will be burned in GENE tokens, thereby decreasing supply. They have already burnt 18M tokens in what they call "The Inaugural GENE Burn."
Here's the Token Distribution of the fixed 1 Billion tokens:
12% The Pre-Seed round was conducted in July 2021 and was a Fair Launch open to anyone who knew about the project then. I sure wish I did...
30% The Second round was conducted in November 2021 and was also a Fair Launch on Miso (Sushi Swap).
š That's 42% of the token supply offered as a Fair Launch!!
10% went to the founding team, which is very reasonable compared to other crypto projects.
30% went to liquidity pools.
10% was set aside for business developers to sell to research organizations and pharmaceutical companies. This is a smart move as it allows the commercial users of the token to make early purchases, get better value for their money, and buy more research query power.
~8% is allocated for new team incentives and a marketing budget (airdrops, etc.).
It's not entirely clear what the vesting was or is, and over 630M tokens are locked in two different contracts. Therefore, the reported Circulating Supply is 270M, and the Market Cap is 1.8M... Very Attractive!
In my opinion, this project is already off to a great start. I'm not too concerned with the unlocks; this is a 3-year to 5-year hold while the price steadily increases. It is currently up over 56X from its All-Time Low Show Less
