Wow, Another DeFi Protocol Raising Millions for a Bitcoin DEX? Can’t Get Enough of Those, Can We?
Ah, another day, another DeFi protocol raising a substantial amount of money for yet another Bitcoin DEX. What a time to be alive in the crypto world! But seriously, the DeFi space seems to be on fire with Velar securing a cool $3.5 million in seed funding to embark on the audacious mission of building the inaugural Bitcoin-based perpetual decentralized exchange (PerpDEX). Now, that’s a mouthful!
The support for Velar’s vision comes from a plethora of blockchain venture capitalists, including heavy hitters like Bitcoin Startup Lab, CMS Holdings, and Black Edge Capital. These savvy investors clearly see the potential in reimagining decentralized finance infrastructure on the Bitcoin network and are eager to back the trailblazing startups racing to establish a foothold in their respective niches.
Velar’s ambitious plans to bring perpetual swaps to the Bitcoin ecosystem are undeniably bold. Their aim is to introduce the world’s first PerpDEX on Bitcoin, enabling futures trading of assets such as BTC and ETH. While Bitcoin wasn’t originally designed for DeFi due to its lack of smart contract capabilities, enterprising developers like Casey Rodarmor from Ordinals have found clever workarounds, inspiring the birth of Bitcoin protocols such as Atomicals and BRC-20. As a result, the DeFi primitives commonly associated with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains are now taking root on Bitcoin, either directly on the layer 1 blockchain or on layer 2 networks like Stacks.
But why even bother with DeFi on Bitcoin, you might ask? Well, there’s a compelling reason: the mind-boggling amount of liquidity sitting idle within the Bitcoin ecosystem. After all, BTC isn’t exactly the most productive asset by default, so creating DeFi protocols on Bitcoin presents an opportunity for both large BTC holders and smaller players to put their holdings to work and earn a return. As Muneeb Ali, co-creator of Stacks, aptly puts it, “DeFi is the logical next step for Bitcoin. Introducing perps for Bitcoin and other assets that can be swapped in a decentralized way and earn rewards will help unlock the $500B in untapped value on Bitcoin.”
Velar has its work cut out for it in the coming months. Their product lineup will eventually include an automated market maker (AMM), a project launchpad, and of course, the much-anticipated PerpDEX. The AMM is already well on its way to completion, having attracted over 160,000 users to its testnet debut last year. With the impending Nakamoto upgrade of the Stacks network, which promises faster block times and a slew of other improvements, Velar Artha, the name given to the PerpDEX, is poised to launch on an L2 that’s been fully optimized for DeFi.
In conclusion, the crypto space is witnessing an exciting convergence of DeFi and Bitcoin, with Velar leading the charge to pioneer the very first Bitcoin DEX for perpetual swaps. As John Bogle, the father of index investing, once said, “Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!” Velar is certainly heeding this advice by striving to bring DeFi to the masses on the most iconic blockchain of them all.