DeFi
HTX Ventures – BTCFi and CoreX: pioneers of the future of Bitcoin DeFi
SINGAPORE / ACCESSWIRE / June 21, 2024 / 2024 marks a year of breakthroughs for Bitcoin: BTC ETFs have received approval from US and Hong Kong regulators. Additionally, with the halving completed in May, Bitcoin is moving decisively toward more ambitious goals. On the application side, we have seen ecosystem innovations introduced by Ordinals. Its growing popularity has led to network congestion, bringing Bitcoin’s scalability back to market attention. Over the past few months, the market has seen Bitcoin Layer2 solutions and sidechains flourish, with BTCFi seen as a key sector with vast growth potential.
In the early stages of BTCFi’s development, we noticed Core, a public chain that solves Layer 1 network security, speed, and decentralization issues with innovative solutions. Its Satoshi Plus consensus mechanism leverages the security of the Bitcoin network to provide efficient transaction processing speed (TPS) while maintaining sufficient decentralization (for more details on the Core Chain, see https://docs.coredao.org/core-white-paper-v1.0.7).
We believe that Core Chain provides the best environment for growing BTCFi. As one of the first partners in the Core Chain ecosystem, HTX has strategically invested in CoreX, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on the blockchain. HTX sees CoreX as the future gateway and liquidity hub of the CoreDAO ecosystem, which will offer a completely new trading experience. This report reviews the design philosophy, features, and strengths of CoreX. HTX believes that CoreX will become one of the most competitive DEXs on CoreDAO and, as an ecosystem booster, will act as a liquidity hub for CoreDAO users.
Why are we bullish on BTCFi?
Bitcoin decentralized finance, or Bitcoin DeFi, or BTCFi, means the introduction of decentralized financial functions into the Bitcoin ecosystem. Bitcoin has long been the blockchain network offering the strongest consensus and security. However, due to its lack of smart contract capabilities, Bitcoin cannot host decentralized applications (dApps) like Ethereum or other public chains and is primarily used for “HODLing”. For Bitcoin holders, experiences like on-chain lending, decentralized trading, and futures trading have largely been lacking.
In early 2024, Ordinals and Runes explored new use cases for the Bitcoin ecosystem, demonstrating market interest in general-purpose features of Bitcoin. However, we believe that Bitcoin’s potential in DeFi is still waiting to be unleashed. Currently, the total value locked (TVL) in BTCFi is close to $1.2 billion, which represents only 0.09% of Bitcoin’s total market cap. In contrast, large public chains with smart contract capabilities have much higher TVL to market cap ratios: 14% for Ethereum, 6% for Solana, and around 3% for Ton. Even with a ratio of 1%, BTCFi has tenfold growth potential.
Image 1: Comparison of TVL/market capitalization ratios and market capitalizations
We believe BTCFi not only unlocks significant value for Bitcoin, but also creates new revenue-generating opportunities for BTC holders. Through BTCFi, holders can do more than just “HODLing”; they can fully utilize their BTC by staking, lending, and market making, among other means. As BTCFi protocols evolve, they are expected to compete with or even surpass existing public chains, fostering a more diverse and robust DeFi ecosystem.
The rise of CoreDAO
There are many solutions to extend the functionality of Bitcoin. Core, a Bitcoin-powered and EVM-compatible Layer1 public chain, stands out as a pioneering approach.
Core ensures its security through a consensus mechanism called Satoshi Plus, which combines delegated proof of work (DPoW), delegated proof of stake (DPoS), and non-custodial Bitcoin staking. First, DPoW leverages Bitcoin’s PoW security, allowing miners to delegate their hash power to main nodes while providing hash power to the Bitcoin network, thereby ensuring consensus security for the main chain. Currently, 46% of Bitcoin nodes are delegated to the Core Chain, providing 259 EH/s of hashing power. Additionally, Core’s security is enhanced by CORE and Bitcoin tokens delegated within its network, with nearly 125 million CORE and 3,000 BTC staked. This hybrid consensus model of POW and DPOS ensures the security of the network while allowing rapid processing of transactions.
Core’s non-custodial staking design is another revolutionary innovation. By eliminating the need to trust centralized custodians, Core allows BTC holders to participate in its consensus and earn staking rewards without losing control of their assets. This significantly reduces the barrier for BTC holders to engage in staking while improving the security of Core. BTC holders do not need to link their assets across chains or convert them to wrapped assets like WBTC. This completely non-custodial mechanism can potentially attract huge BTC holders to participate in core network consensus building.
Looking to the future of CoreDAO, we believe DeFi will be a key focus area for the Core ecosystem. Bitcoin users will be able to engage in lending, futures trading, and other protocols while maintaining their BTC holdings. Innovations may include using Bitcoin as collateral for opening positions and using Bitcoin for liquidity rewards or staking liquidation. Moreover, in addition to staking rewards, liquid staking mechanisms are about to emerge.
What is CoreX?
CoreX, the flagship DEX of the CoreDAO ecosystem, provides users with an exceptional trading environment thanks to its simple yet intelligent design and comprehensive toolkits. Using Uni V3 infrastructure, CoreX addresses key challenges such as liquidity shortages and slippages. Additionally, it integrates AI technology to create a dynamic social trading hub.
How will CoreX create new trading experiences?
CoreX brings a new trading experience to users through its optimized user experience, social features and AI technology. It aims to lower the barriers for new users, allowing them to easily enter the DeFi space.
CoreX significantly enhances the traditional DEX experience by providing a user-friendly trading environment. The platform provides advanced real-time charting tools that allow traders to track price fluctuations of selected tokens. It also integrates technical indicators and drawing tools for deeper analysis. These features are especially useful and user-friendly for traders who want to share their ideas on social media. Additionally, detailed information about each trade, including profits or losses made, is displayed on the trading interface, making important data easy to understand and access. Looking ahead, CoreX plans to introduce customization options that will allow traders to tailor their trading environment using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to meet their specific needs.
CoreX also takes social trading to a new level. It offers global chat rooms and coin-specific chat rooms where traders can exchange ideas and share trading opportunities with each other. Loyal users have access to individual encrypted messaging and the privilege of creating private chat rooms. Additionally, CoreX integrates social elements into its operations, including offering high yields through staking programs and hosting exclusive online and offline events to recognize and reward NFT holders. The platform will soon launch a massive social airdrop event offering up to 10 million tokens, which has attracted a lot of attention.
Additionally, CoreX provides an intelligent trading assistant that uses machine learning algorithms to recommend trading opportunities based on individual preferences, technical analysis and social media sentiment. It also offers one-click copy trading functionality, allowing users to easily follow the strategies of successful traders. Additionally, by partnering with algorithmic trading companies, the platform enables accurate price predictions, helping users excel in a competitive trading environment.
HTX Ventures strategic investment in CoreX
Crypto traders are always looking for platforms that offer consistent returns and high-quality trading experiences. CoreX prioritizes user experience and uses social and AI technologies to provide a superior and intelligent business environment. This makes it an attractive goal for us. We believe that the emergence of CoreX will take CoreDAO’s DeFi development to the next level. Moving forward, we will remain committed to the CoreDAO ecosystem, leveraging our resources and strengths to drive its growth.
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About HTX Ventures:
HTX Ventures, the global investment division of HTX, integrates investing, incubation and research to identify the world’s best and brightest teams. With a decade-long history as an industry pioneer, HTX Ventures excels at identifying cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models within the industry. To foster growth within the blockchain ecosystem, we provide comprehensive project support, including funding, resources and strategic advice.
HTX Ventures currently supports over 300 projects spanning multiple blockchain sectors, with select high-quality initiatives already trading on the HTX exchange. Additionally, as one of the most active fund of funds (FOF) investors, HTX Ventures is collaboratively forging the blockchain ecosystem alongside leading global blockchain funds including Dragonfly, Bankless, Gitcoin, Figment and Animoca . Visit us here.
Contact details
Michael Wang
Company Website
https://www.htx.com/en-us/ventures
About HTX Ventures
HTX Ventures, the global investment division of HTX, integrates investing, incubation and research to identify the world’s best and brightest teams.
With a decade-long history as an industry pioneer, HTX Ventures excels at identifying cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models within the industry. To foster growth within the blockchain ecosystem, we provide comprehensive project support, including funding, resources and strategic advice.
HTX Ventures currently supports over 200 projects spanning multiple blockchain sectors, with select high-quality initiatives already trading on the HTX exchange. Additionally, as one of the most vigorous fund of funds (FOF) investors, HTX Ventures is collaboratively forging the blockchain ecosystem alongside leading global blockchain funds including IVC, Shima and Animoca.
Contact details
Michael Wang
Company Website
https://www.htx.com/en-us/ventures
SOURCE: HTX