# ResearchCoin

> ResearchCoin is a cryptoasset token that serves as the community governance and rewards token on the ResearchHub platform.

- Canonical URL: https://iq.wiki/wiki/researchcoin
- Categories: Cryptoassets
- Tags: Ethereum, Base, Token
- Created: 2026-09-20T16:31:14.397Z
- Last updated: 2026-09-20T16:31:14.397Z
- Source: IQ.wiki — the world's largest blockchain and crypto encyclopedia (https://iq.wiki)

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**ResearchCoin (RSC)** is the community [governance](https://iq.wiki/wiki/governance-tokens) and rewards token of ResearchHub, a decentralized science (DeSci) platform that pays users for sharing, curating, reviewing, and discussing academic research in the open.[\[1\]](#cite-id-ysgomccbtx)​[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b) It is an [ERC-20](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-20) token first announced in July 2020, issued natively on [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) and later deployed on [Base](https://iq.wiki/wiki/base), [Coinbase](https://iq.wiki/wiki/coinbase)'s Ethereum [layer 2](https://iq.wiki/wiki/layer-2) network.[\[3\]](#cite-id-z4afrozbau)​[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b)​

RSC has a fixed maximum supply of one billion tokens and functions as both an incentive currency and a voting instrument within the ResearchHub [Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)](https://iq.wiki/wiki/dao), where one RSC equals one vote.[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b)​[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl)​

## Overview

ResearchHub is an open-science platform that lets scholars upload, summarize, discuss, and prioritize research within dedicated focus areas called "Hubs."[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl) The project describes itself as "a GitHub For Science," aiming to be a modern mobile and web application where academics and non-academics collaborate on scientific research in a manner comparable to how GitHub serves software engineering.[\[4\]](#cite-id-q43o50vx79)​[\[6\]](#cite-id-2p9wxqpfzz) Within this ecosystem, RSC is the mechanism used to recognize and reward contributions, with the amount earned for any given action stated to be proportional to how valuable the community perceives that action to be, as measured by upvotes.[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b)​

ResearchCoin is an [ERC-20](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-20) token originally built on the [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain).[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b)​[\[7\]](#cite-id-1x1mbxicm9) To enable cheaper and faster transactions, the ResearchHub Foundation deployed an official token contract on [Base](https://iq.wiki/wiki/base).[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b)​[\[8\]](#cite-id-8hkv3niy3s) The Base token is backed one-to-one by the main token on Ethereum, and holders can move RSC between the two chains using bridging applications such as Superbridge.[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b)​[\[1\]](#cite-id-ysgomccbtx)​

​

## History

ResearchCoin was announced on Medium on July 31, 2020.[\[3\]](#cite-id-z4afrozbau) The announcement presented RSC as representing ownership in the ResearchHub community through "certain governance and usage rights" and set out the problems the project sought to address, stating that 1.8 million papers are published each year and most are never read, that 50% of experiments cannot be reproduced, and that 85% of scientific knowledge is shared behind paywalls.[\[3\]](#cite-id-z4afrozbau) At launch, the model promised one ResearchCoin for every upvote received, with the caveat that the ratio "may adjust this over time as the community grows."[\[3\]](#cite-id-z4afrozbau)​

The ResearchCoin [whitepaper](https://iq.wiki/wiki/white-paper), dated 2020, expanded the rationale with detailed statistics on the state of scientific publishing. It cited paywalls as limiting access to roughly three quarters of academic literature and stated that about half of newly published papers remain paywalled despite progress toward open access.[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl)​

Since its launch RSC has been listed on cryptocurrency exchanges and distributed through [airdrops](https://iq.wiki/wiki/airdrop) and giveaways, including a one-million-RSC giveaway whose final results were published in August 2022.[\[3\]](#cite-id-z4afrozbau)​[\[6\]](#cite-id-2p9wxqpfzz) Other reported milestones include the establishment of the ResearchHub Foundation, the assignment of peer-review bounties, the unveiling of a DeSci Ecosystem Map, and participation at conferences cited as SciCon and Blockchain Expo.[\[6\]](#cite-id-2p9wxqpfzz)​

In 2025 ResearchHub published a series of guides and announcements detailing new funding and review mechanisms built around RSC. On April 23, 2025, Patrick Joyce published "Preregistration as a Novel Vehicle for Funding Scientific Research," which framed a reproducibility and efficiency problem by asserting that less than half of study outcomes are reported and less than half of those can be replicated.[\[7\]](#cite-id-1x1mbxicm9) A week later, on April 30, 2025, Arshia Malek published "Funding Institutional Research with Crypto: ResearchHub Partners with Endaoment," describing the launch of ResearchHub v2 and the ability to fund scientific research directly through preregistrations using RSC.[\[7\]](#cite-id-1x1mbxicm9)​

On May 11, 2025, Malek published "Peer Reviewing on ResearchHub," describing a system in which qualified reviewers self-select papers, creating an open marketplace for peer review intended to foster transparency, faster feedback, and broader participation.[\[7\]](#cite-id-1x1mbxicm9) On July 21, 2025, Malek and Jeffrey Koury published "Funding on ResearchHub: A Guide for Researchers," which explains that anyone can directly fund preregistered scientific studies and that applicants submit a two-to-four page preregistration proposal.[\[7\]](#cite-id-1x1mbxicm9) ResearchHub has also introduced an Endowment feature through which users earn daily Funding Credits to fund science.[\[10\]](#cite-id-2xjbacbrxl) The platform's technical documentation is maintained on GitBook and covers ResearchCoin, its [tokenomics](https://iq.wiki/wiki/tokenomics), distribution chart, emission schedule, and contract addresses.[\[11\]](#cite-id-y5i8kkcl11)​[\[12\]](#cite-id-3vtr6prf72)​

## Tokenomics

ResearchCoin has a total supply of one billion tokens and a maximum supply of one billion.[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b)​[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl) The [whitepaper](https://iq.wiki/wiki/white-paper) states that of the initial one billion, 20% — 200,000,000 RSC — was retained by ResearchHub and earmarked for distribution to the community, and it explicitly stated these coins would be distributed solely as rewards for contributions and that ResearchHub Inc. would not host an initial token sale.[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl) The documentation gives an initial [circulating supply](https://iq.wiki/wiki/circulating-supply) of 7.5 million RSC and caps the rate at which the community circulating supply increases at 50 million RSC per year.[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b)​

The token's economic design is grounded in what ResearchHub calls token engineering principles centered on the "Web3 Sustainability Loop," with a stated primary focus on growing the ecosystem while ensuring its long-term self-sustainability.[\[9\]](#cite-id-772ypkftnv) Rather than distributing tokens all at once, RSC is released gradually to contributors who add value, an approach the foundation says aligns incentives for those committed to the platform's long-term vision and gives the team a longer runway to iterate on growth mechanisms.[\[9\]](#cite-id-772ypkftnv) It cites the Editor program, the Incentivized Peer Review program, and Microgrants as examples of such iterations, arguing that value contributed by participants is captured by the platform through increased user adoption, which in turn generates further value through heightened awareness and use of ResearchHub's services.[\[9\]](#cite-id-772ypkftnv) A supply of 193,605 RSC has been sent to the token burn address, permanently removing it from circulation.[\[1\]](#cite-id-ysgomccbtx)​

### Earning and Utility

RSC is designed as a reward token that anyone can earn by sharing, curating, and discussing academic science on ResearchHub, with the [whitepaper](https://iq.wiki/wiki/white-paper) describing it primarily as "scientific karma."[\[2\]](#cite-id-kup5l6ld1b)​[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl) At launch each upvote received corresponded to one ResearchCoin, and the whitepaper's reward table specified concrete values: submitting a paper earned +1 RSC (or +10 if the submitter is the author), adding a key takeaway earned +1, and the first summary edit earned +5.[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl) Comment replies earned +1 per upvote received (+5 for the author) and lost −1 per downvote received, while a user who flagged a paper for copyright violation that was subsequently removed by a moderator was compensated — the whitepaper cites a figure of 10 RSC for a correct copyright flag.[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl) The whitepaper stated the platform intended to expand community-based voting and rewards across additional dimensions over time, including originality, reproducibility, and commercial viability.[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl)​

Beyond passive rewards, RSC underpins a set of active utilities. Users can tip valuable content and open bounties to incentivize specific scientific tasks — examples include paying for peer review, requesting a meta-analysis, or generating graphical abstracts for papers.[\[1\]](#cite-id-ysgomccbtx)​[\[4\]](#cite-id-q43o50vx79) The ResearchHub Foundation states that reviewers are paid $150 in RSC for reviewing research, that authors can earn rewards for citations their papers receive, and that users can request specific scientific services or fund research they want to see based on a pre-registered proposal.[\[7\]](#cite-id-1x1mbxicm9) RSC can also be spent to boost the visibility of content; when it is, the whitepaper explains that a portion is immediately burned and a portion is returned to the DAO to replenish rewards, a mechanism presented as making the remaining supply more scarce.[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl)​[\[3\]](#cite-id-z4afrozbau) Through the ResearchHub Journal, users may pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) in RSC.[\[7\]](#cite-id-1x1mbxicm9)​

RSC is closely tied to reputation, or REP, which ResearchHub defines as a user's lifetime earnings of ResearchCoin minus erosion due to downvotes.[\[4\]](#cite-id-q43o50vx79) Reputation acts similarly to aggregated Reddit karma as a peer-determined measure of prestige and cannot be bought, only earned through valuable contributions.[\[5\]](#cite-id-36vekvmngl)​[\[3\]](#cite-id-z4afrozbau) It confers privileges used for moderation: high-reputation users, described as roughly the top 10%, gain the ability to flag, edit, or remove content that is low quality or off-topic, and downvoted content is shown less often or hidden over time.[\[3\]](#cite-id-z4afrozbau)​