In a groundbreaking development for the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem, Velar — a liquidity protocol aimed at unlocking Bitcoin’s massive dormant capital for decentralized finance (DeFi) activities — recently announced the listing of its native token ‘$VELAR’ on Bybit, one of the world’s top three crypto exchanges by spot trading volume.
The development, slated for April 3rd and timed to coincide with Velar’s own Initial decentralized exchange (DEX) offering, represents a significant endorsement of the project’s vision to transform Bitcoin’s utility beyond just a store of value (SoV). Moreover, it stands to pave the way for broader accessibility and innovation within the Bitcoin DeFi sector among thousands of new users.
The massive potential of Bitcoin DeFi
While the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem has seen phenomenal growth in recent years, surpassing $50 billion in total value locked (TVL) earlier this year, Bitcoin’s potential for DeFi has continued to remain largely untapped. In fact, it is estimated that over $1 trillion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) is currently sitting idle with investors globally, failing to generate any yield or revenue streams for them.
Velar aims to change this status quo by progressively integrating BTC into cutting-edge DeFi applications built on Layer-2 scaling solutions like Stacks. This allows leveraging Bitcoin’s unparalleled security and network effects while circumventing limitations around scalability and throughput on the base layer.
A key recent development from Velar has been the launch of Dharma, their native automated market maker (AMM) and decentralized exchange built on Stacks. In just two weeks of going live, Dharma has already attracted over 150,000 users, highlighting the immense demand for DeFi tools that can leverage Bitcoin’s liquidity.
To elaborate, Dharma allows Bitcoin holders to earn yield by providing liquidity and engaging in swaps/trades, all executed trustlessly on-chain, thereby opening up entirely new financial use cases for the cryptocurrency. Lastly, with Velar’s V2 mainnet launch on the horizon, the platform is set to introduce the world’s first Bitcoin-based perpetual futures DEX supporting up to 20x leverage.
Empowering self-custody and DeFi innovation
A core tenet of Velar’s approach is enabling users to tap their Bitcoin holdings for DeFi without surrendering self-custody – a key differentiator from wrapped Bitcoin tokens that rely on centralized custody. This preserves Bitcoin’s core value proposition while vastly expanding its use cases and capital efficiency.
According to Velar co-founder and CEO Mithil Thakore, being among the first major projects to bridge Bitcoin into DeFi presents great opportunities as well as risks that stand to shape the trajectory of the entire ecosystem going forward. He further noted:
“This marks a pivotal juncture where we’ll witness firsthand the interest and adoption of Bitcoin ecosystem projects on a global scale,” Thakore stated. “It’s not just about our project; it’s about paving the way for countless others. This inherent risk of being the first represents an invaluable learning opportunity that will shape the trajectory of Bitcoin-based projects in the years to come.”
Well-Timed Amidst Renewed Bitcoin Exuberance
The timing for Velar’s listing on Bybit comes amid a resurgence of bullish sentiment surrounding Bitcoin, with the recent approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. helping reignite institutional interest. The world’s pioneering cryptocurrency has been on a tear since Q4 2023, more than doubling in price year-to-date.
Many analysts view Bitcoin’s current rally as just the start, projecting its market capitalization could realistically grow ten-fold or more in the coming years as it captures part of the multi-trillion dollar market shares of asset classes like gold, silver, foreign exchange reserves, money supply, and institutional investment portfolios.
Even if a fraction of Bitcoin’s existing holdings can get channeled into the DeFi sector — as enabled by Velar and future projects — it can potentially supercharge the growth of this innovative financial ecosystem, benefiting both Bitcoin and the broader crypto space. On the subject, Tejinder Singh Mor, Velar’s co-founder and Chief Product Officer, noted:
“We’re poised to launch the world’s first Perp Dex on Bitcoin. This milestone not only validates our team’s efforts but also highlights the potential of our products to make a meaningful impact in the Bitcoin DeFi space.”
Thus, as we move toward a future driven by decentralized technologies, projects like Velar seem to be well-positioned to help facilitate Bitcoin’s integration into the global digital finance ecosystem. Interesting times ahead!
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