Crypto lending startup Venus Protocol launches a new pilot initiative to support ecosystem innovation by giving away over $1 million in grants over the next 6 months

Venus, a decentralized finance (DeFi) algorithmic money market and synthetic stablecoin protocol exclusively on Binance Smart Chain, is launching a new pilot initiative to help foster innovation within its ecosystem, supporting developments in DeFi that will pave the way for more institutional usage in a multi-chain environment.

The proposal to launch the grant program aims to leverage the Venus treasury, where several million USD worth of XVS is available, to fund community grants and develop the protocol. The Venus Grants Program is a structured initiative to use these funds for the betterment of the Venus protocol, opening the doors for external developer teams and individuals to add useful features and services.

The grant program has a wide scope in terms of what it can support, including core protocol development of Venus and other projects building on top of it, the development of alternative frontends and applications integrating Venus, developer tooling, code audits, and bounties. Community-centric proposals will also be considered, including educational material grants and the organization of events and hackathons.

Grants are divided into: Accelerated Grants, disbursed within 10 days of application by the grant committee and totaling a maximum of $100,000; and Ecosystem Grants that can provide up to $600,000 in funding but require feedback and involvement from the community. Larger sums can also be offered, but the deliberation will be subject to a full governance vote.

The initial pilot program will run for two quarters (six months) and will include $1 million in total funding with $100,000 reserved for operational expenses during its duration. The VGP committee will include five members, with one lead and four reviewers. The members of the committee will be voted on by the DAO as part of the grant approval process, with a six-month mandate.

At the end of the initial pilot mandate, the Venus Grants Program will be reviewed for its effectiveness based on parameters such as growth in Venus TVL, fees, or community support.

“We’re very excited to begin this Venus Grant Program pilot and see if we can scale it up even further,” said Brad Harrison, Venus CEO “We’re especially excited to support applications that build upon the core Venus smart contracts. Yield aggregators, strategies, or even alternative frontends that help us further decentralize and increase reach with users. If you want to build it, we will support you in any way we can.”

Founded in 2020,Venus Protocol is an algorithmic-based, money market system designed to enable decentralized lending and borrowing on the Binance Smart Chain. Cryptocurrency holders can utilize their assets to supply collateral to the network, earning passive income through variable APY. Borrowers can access instant and low-cost loans in stablecoins without selling their non-stablecoin digital assets.

Venus uses collateral supplied to the market to borrow against crypto assets and mint synthetic stablecoins with over-collateralized positions, backed by a basket of cryptocurrencies, to protect the protocol. This ensures a secure credit environment where lenders receive a compounded interest rate annually, paid per block, while borrowers pay interest on the cryptocurrency borrowed.