$3.05

Venus is a decentralized protocol for lending and borrowing that also issues a synthetic stablecoin, built on the Binance Smart Chain. It allows users to borrow against their crypto assets quickly and with minimal fees. Users can also mint VAI, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, by depositing collateral worth at least twice the amount minted. XVS is the governance token that lets holders vote on protocol changes, such as adding new collateral types or adjusting parameters. The project aims to be fully community-controlled, with no token allocations for founders or team.

The Venus project is being developed by the team behind Swipe. Its primary goal is to achieve full decentralization through community governance. There are no pre-mined tokens for the team, developers, or founders, which gives XVS holders complete control over the future direction of the protocol.

Venus stands out due to its speed and low transaction costs, which come from being on the Binance Smart Chain. It is the first protocol to offer lending markets for major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, XRP, and Litecoin, enabling real-time liquidity. Users can borrow without credit checks or geographic restrictions, as long as they provide sufficient collateral. Loans are funded by a pool of user deposits that earn variable interest. To prevent manipulation, Venus uses price oracles, including Chainlink, for accurate data. Its integration with BSC also allows access to a large ecosystem.

The maximum supply of XVS is 30 million tokens. As of November 2020, just over 4.2 million were in circulation. Venus was among the first projects to use Binance Launchpool, where users could farm XVS by staking BNB, BUSD, or SXP. 20% of the total supply (6 million XVS) was allocated for this. There was no pre-sale or private sale, and the team has no allocation, but 1% (300,000 XVS) is reserved for BSC ecosystem grants. The remaining 23.7 million XVS will be mined over four years. Daily rewards are split: 35% to borrowers, 35% to suppliers, and 30% to VAI minters.

Security is provided by the Binance Smart Chain, which runs alongside Binance Chain and is compatible with Ethereum tools. BSC uses a consensus mechanism called proof-of-staked authority, a hybrid of proof-of-stake and proof-of-authority, with 21 validators who confirm transactions and maintain network integrity. Additionally, Venus protects lenders through automatic liquidation: if a borrower's collateral drops below 75% of the loan value, it is liquidated to repay suppliers, ensuring the system remains over-collateralized.

As of November 2020, XVS is only available on Binance. It can be traded against USDT, BTC, BNB, and BUSD. There are no direct fiat purchase options. For guidance on buying cryptocurrencies with a card, refer to our guide.