Biology has already evolved catalysts for an extraordinary range of reactions. Finding the right enzyme for a specific job is the harder part. Ponzym turns that search into an open competition where every result is recomputed on chain instead of taken on trust.
In the viewer: an enzyme structure from the Protein Data Bank
Anyone can claim a docking result. Here the contract holds the active site, holds the substrate's topology, proves your pose really is that molecule in that box, and does the arithmetic itself. The number on the leaderboard is the chain's own.
Every enzyme is a structure from the RCSB Protein Data Bank with its EC number, organism, resolution and the bound ligand that defines its active site. Every card links straight to the entry so you can check it.
A challenge pays its pool to the best proven result by the deadline. No committee, no review round. If nobody found anything, every funder takes back exactly what they put in.
A sponsor posts a reaction: the substrate, the enzyme class, the temperature and pH the job has to survive, and what a good answer looks like. They fund the pool.
You pick an enzyme and run the search in your browser. The best pose so far moves in the viewer while it runs. Nothing is sent anywhere yet.
You pay 0.0001 ETH and submit. The contract checks the geometry atom by atom and recomputes the binding free energy itself.
If it is the best proven result, it takes the lead. At the deadline the pool goes to the leader.
The score is an estimated binding free energy in kcal per mole. More negative means the substrate sits more comfortably in the active site.
Binding is not catalysis. A strong score says the molecule fits, not that the enzyme turns it over, and it predicts nothing about rate or yield. The temperature and pH of a challenge are the sponsor's requirement for real use, and the scoring function does not read them.
That gap is the point. A strong score is where a laboratory starts, with the work already reproducible, not a result to announce.
The scoring function is an independent integer implementation of the AutoDock Vina family, with the five weights Trott and Olson fitted in 2010. It is not the AutoDock Vina program. The enzyme is held rigid and waters are dropped, and the docs say what that costs.
A band says how well the substrate binds the active site. It never says the enzyme turns that substrate over. The chain records the exact value in milli kcal per mole.
| gauss 1 | -0.0356 |
| gauss 2 | -0.00516 |
| repulsion | 0.840 |
| hydrophobic | -0.0351 |
| hydrogen bond | -0.587 |
Divided by 1 + 0.0585 x rotatable bonds.
Only then does it score. A pose can score well only by really fitting the pocket. Events carry the whole pose, so this site rebuilds every number from the log and no database of ours sits between you and the record.
No challenge is open yet. Anyone can post one: a substrate, a reaction class, the conditions it has to hold, and a pool.
Post a challengeThe token launches later on ponsfamily.com. Until it does, a docking test is paid in ETH, and nothing on this page shows a contract address. When it launches the address appears here and a test can be paid either way, your choice.
The library and the lab are open without a wallet. You only need one when you want the chain to prove a pose.