Podcast: Patients, Not Profits, Should Drive Drug Discovery | Vibe Bio, Alok Tayi

Alok Tayi joins Santiago Santos to discuss how Vibe Bio is leveraging crypto to fund research and development for rare diseases

article-image
share

In this episode of Empire, Santi is joined by Alok Tayi, scientist and founder of Vibe Bio. Alok started Vibe Bio because the biggest obstacle in treating patients with overlooked diseases isn’t finding potential treatments — it’s funding them.

Vibe Bio is leveraging crypto’s economic and coordination tools to fund the research and development that the legacy biotech industry ignores. Don’t miss this fascinating conversation!

We discuss:

  • Vibe Bio’s origin story and how it works
  • Big pharma’s dilemma
  • Why these diseases don’t receive funding today
  • Project prioritization
  • Crypto’s unique advantages
  • The $VIBE token
  • How to grow and leverage Vibe’s community
  • Diseases don’t care about interest rates
  • Biggest challenges

Check out what they had to say in the video below.👇

About the show

“Empire” is a twice-a-week show where we share the real crypto stories that aren’t heard elsewhere. On Mondays, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Santos interview crypto industry movers and shakers to talk about their struggles, bold moves and tough decisions. Finish off the week with Friday’s weekly roundup episode that covers the top news and narratives of the week.

For any NPR or Guy Raz fans out there, you can think of “Empire” as a “How I Built This” for Web3.

Subscribe to “Empire” today on Apple or Spotify. Watch episodes on YouTube.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Nillion_DeSci_Report_Template.png

Research

Nillion’s Monad Integration is poised to catalyze the next phase of DeSci’s evolution by eliminating key privacy bottlenecks. This synergy allows researchers, institutions, and DAOs to exchange sensitive data and insights securely while managing governance and payments onchain.

article-image

Multiple rounds of prior audits did not catch the flaw, the DEX said

article-image

StarkWare launches new consumer-grade hardware ZK prover

article-image

Bitcoin’s creator may have had a powerful mining trick up his sleeve

article-image

Maple said it closed its first tranche of bitcoin-backed financing through Cantor’s new Bitcoin financing business on Tuesday

article-image

Gemini’s State of Crypto report found that memecoins and a friendlier US are helping to drive crypto adoption globally

article-image

A single upgrade could reshape how Solana sequences, votes and finalizes.