Binance Labs Embraces Bitcoin DeFi Investments

Binance Labs, the venture capital division of the largest cryptocurrency exchange, has made an investment in BounceBit, a protocol that combines centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) features. The goal of BounceBit is to enhance the utility of Bitcoin by merging these two aspects. Binance Labs sees BounceBit as an innovative player in the industry and is excited to support their mission of empowering Bitcoin through secure and transparent solutions. BounceBit is part of a new wave of protocols aiming to bring DeFi capabilities to Bitcoin, a concept known as Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi).

The main objective of BounceBit is to expand the use of Bitcoin beyond being solely a store of value to a yield-generating asset with greater capital efficiency. This is achieved through a proof-of-stake (PoS) layer-1 ecosystem, where validators are incentivized to stake Bitcoin and BounceBit ecosystem tokens in a dual-token economy. The infrastructure of Bitcoin-native restaking aims to create more utility for Bitcoin in a secure and transparent manner. BounceBit is grateful for the support from Binance Labs in their mission to build a robust restaking ecosystem.

Binance Labs recently became an independent venture capital arm after separating from the Binance exchange. Prior to the split, Binance Labs had a portfolio worth over $10 billion, covering more than 250 projects from 25 countries, with an ROI rate of over 14 times. Currently, BounceBit has over 110,000 users and more than $782 million in total value locked (TVL), according to its homepage.

Bitcoin-native DeFi, or BTCFi, was once considered impossible, but it is now gaining traction as the much-anticipated Bitcoin halving approaches on April 19. This is evident in the success of decentralized exchange MerlinSwap, which raised 6,599 Bitcoin worth $480 million in its initial DEX offering (IDO) from over 52,000 investors on April 5. This record-breaking IDO demonstrates the market’s demand for BTCFi and its potential to rival Ethereum in DeFi innovation. The co-founder of MerlinSwap emphasized the community’s eagerness to drive the DeFi revolution on Bitcoin’s platform and the widespread demand for innovative, decentralized financial solutions built on the first cryptocurrency.