• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s ResearchHub startup raised $5M in a Series A funding round.
• The platform allows users to earn cryptocurrency rewards for contributing new knowledge to the research community.
• Funders of science projects rely on citation-based metrics, but ResearchHub is aiming to change that with their open-source software model.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s ResearchHub Raises $5M
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s startup, ResearchHub, has secured $5 million in a Series A fundraising round led by Open Source Software Capital. The round was supported by notable investors such as Boost VC, RedHat’s Bob Young, Vercel’s Guillermo Rauch and Replit’s Amjad Masad.
ResearchHub Platform Offers Crypto Rewards
ResearchHub is building a platform whereby anyone can be rewarded with crypto for contributing knowledge to the global scientific community. Users receive ResearchCoin (RSC) when they publish content on the platform; the amount of RSC received depends on how valuable other members perceive the content to be.
Traditional Citation Metrics are Problematic
Due to traditional citation-based metrics being used as an indicator of quality amongst academics, many scientists optimize their research in order to maximize citations and attention. This is a broken system which can lead to wasted resources and time – something which Armstrong and co-founder Patrick Joyce want to change with an open-source software model instead.
ResearchHub Web Application Hosts Suite of Tools
The web application hosted by ResearchHub comes equipped with publishing and collaboration tools designed for researchers so they can draft manuscripts and share them with others. Over time, the team at ResearchHub hopes their reward structure will direct resources towards the best potential minds in a reliable fashion based on evidence alone.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s startup, ResearchHub, has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Open Source Software Capital as well as notable investors such as Boost VC, RedHat’s Bob Young and others. The platform offers cryptocurrency rewards for those who publish valuable content on it and aims to replace traditional citation-based metrics so that resources are not wasted whilst still rewarding high quality scientific research work appropriately..