Preface
2024 is a year of Bitcoin energy, with the SEC approving the listing of Bitcoin ETFs at the beginning of the year, followed by the approval of ETFs in Hong Kong, there is a steady stream of good news, and with the completion of last month's halving, Bitcoin is undoubtedly moving towards a more ambitious goal. At the same time, on the Bitcoin application side, we have seen the ecological innovation brought by Ordinals, and with the emergence of network congestion caused by its increasing popularity, the topic of Bitcoin scaling has been taken seriously again. After several months of development, the current market presents a trend of Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechains blooming, and BTCFi is considered to be a major track with huge development space in the future.
We noticed the Core project in the early days of BTCFi's development, because as a public chain proposed an innovative solution to solve the problems of Layer 1 network security, speed, and decentralization, the Satoshi Plus mechanism perfectly unleashed the security of the Bitcoin network, its consensus is supported by the Bitcoin network, and has efficient transaction processing speed and sufficient decentralization (for details on the Core chain, please read:).
We believe that Core Chain is the best soil for the development of BTCFi. As one of the earliest ecological partners to support the Core Chain, Huobi HTX has strategically invested in CoreX, a decentralized exchange built on its ecosystem, and regards CoreX as a gateway and liquidity gathering place for the future CoreDAO ecosystem, providing a new trading experience. This report introduces CoreX's product design ideas, functional characteristics and competitiveness in detail. Huobi HTX believes that CoreX will become one of the most competitive Dex for CoreDAO, and as a booster of the ecosystem, it will become the center of CoreDAO user liquidity.
Why we are bullish on BTCFi
Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi) refers to the introduction of decentralized finance capabilities into the Bitcoin ecosystem. For a long time, Bitcoin, as a blockchain network with the most powerful consensus and security, has not been able to carry decentralized applications like Ethereum or other blockchain public chains because it does not have the function of executing smart contracts, and is mostly used as a "HODLing" target. For Bitcoin holders, on-chain lending, decentralized trading, and contract trading have always been relatively blank.
At the beginning of the year, Ordinals and Runes explored new application scenarios in the BTC ecosystem, which also showed that the market is very interested in the general functions of the Bitcoin network, but we believe that the potential of Bitcoin in the Defi field is still to be explored. At present, the TVL in BTCFi is close to $1.2Billion, accounting for only 0.09% of the total market value of Bitcoin, compared with the mainstream public chains with smart contract carrying capabilities, such as Ethereum ecological TVL accounting for 14% of its market capitalization, Solana 6%, and Ton about 3%, and its ecological TVL has a large proportion increase relative to the market capitalization. Even at 1%, BTCFi still has 10 times the room to grow.
Figure 1: Ratio of Ecosystem TVL to Ecosystem Market Cap and Comparison of Ecosystem Market Cap
We believe that BTCFi not only unlocks significant value in Bitcoin's market cap, but also provides new yield generation opportunities for BTC holders. Through BTCFi, holders can not only limit themselves to "HODLing", but also make full use of their BTC through staking, lending, market making, etc. As the BTCFi protocol continues to develop, they are expected to compete with or even surpass other existing public chain ecosystems, thus promoting the formation of a more diverse and robust DeFi ecosystem.
The Rise of CoreDAO
In terms of how to expand the functionality of Bitcoin, there are many solutions in the market, among which Core, as a Layer1 public chain supported by the Bitcoin network and compatible with EVM, has put forward an innovative idea.
Core is secured by a consensus mechanism called Satoshi Plus, which guarantees the security of the Core chain from three paths, namely DPOW, DPOS and non-custodial Bitcoin staking, first of all, DPOW combines the security of Bitcoin POW, miners can delegate their computing power to nodes in Core at the same time when providing computing power for the Bitcoin network, providing consensus security for the Core chain. At present, 46% of Bitcoin nodes have been entrusted to the Core Chain, providing 259EH/s computing power support. On the other hand, the security of Core is also provided by the Core Token and Bitcoin delegated to the network, and nearly 125 Million Core and 3,000 Bitcoin have been delegated to the Core network so far. This hybrid consensus model of POW+DPOS not only ensures the security of the network, but also releases the network's ability to execute transactions quickly.
The design of non-custodial staking is another milestone innovation of Core, because there is no need to reach trust with centralized custody, Bitcoin holders can safely enjoy the consensus of the Core chain without losing control of Bitcoin, and earn staking rewards, which greatly reduces the threshold for Bitcoin holders to participate in staking, while increasing the security of Core. Bitcoin holders do not need to bridge bitcoins across chains or encapsulate them into wrapped assets similar to WBTC, which is a completely non-custodial mechanism that has the opportunity to attract a large number of Bitcoin holders to participate in the construction of the core network consensus.
Regarding the future development direction of CoreDAO, we believe that Defi will be the key track for the development of the Core ecosystem, and Bitcoin users will be able to maintain their holding on Bitcoin, participate in lending, contract trading and other protocols, and innovate including using Bitcoin as collateral to open positions, directly using Bitcoin for liquidity rewards or pledge liquidation, etc. At the same time, on the basis of staking income, the gameplay of liquid staking will also be derived.
What is CoreX
CoreX will serve as the flagship DEX in the CoreDAO ecosystem, providing users with an excellent trading environment through its simple and intelligent design and rich suite of tools. CoreX solves key challenges such as illiquidity and trading slippage by using Uni V3's infrastructure, and creates a vibrant social trading hub by integrating advanced AI technology.
How CoreX will create a new trading experience
CoreX brings a whole new trading experience to users through its optimized user experience, social features, and AI technology. CoreX is committed to lowering the barrier to entry for new users, allowing them to easily enter the Defi space.
CoreX significantly enhances the experience of traditional DEXs by providing a user-friendly trading environment. The platform contains advanced real-time charting tools that not only allow traders to track the price fluctuations of their chosen token, but also integrate technical indicators and drawing tools for more in-depth analysis. These features are especially useful and easy to use for traders who wish to share their insights on social media. In addition to these comprehensive charting capabilities, the detailed information of each trade is also displayed directly on the trading interface, including the realized profit or loss situation, making important information easy to understand and access. Going forward, CoreX will introduce customization options that will allow traders to customize their trading environment to meet their specific needs using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
CoreX also takes social trading to the next level. It offers global chat rooms and coin-based chat rooms that allow traders to exchange ideas with other crypto traders and share trading opportunities. For loyal users, CoreX also offers a 1-on-1 encrypted messaging feature and the privilege of creating private chat rooms. In addition, CoreX has integrated social elements into its operations, including providing high returns through staking programs and hosting exclusive online and offline events to recognize and reward NFT holders. In the near future, CoreX will hold a large-scale airdrop social event of 10 million and 10 million tokens, which has attracted a lot of attention.
In addition, CoreX provides users with an intelligent trading assistant that uses machine learning algorithms to recommend trading opportunities based on individual user preferences, technical analysis, and social media sentiment. CoreX also offers a one-click copy trading feature that makes it easy for users to follow the strategies of good traders. In addition, it partners with algorithmic trading firms to provide users with accurate price predictions to help them stand out in a competitive trading environment.
HTX Ventures战略投资CoreX
Crypto traders are constantly looking for platforms that can deliver consistent returns and a quality trading experience. CoreX puts user experience first and brings a premium and intelligent experience through social and AI technology, which gives us every reason to set our sights on it, and we believe that the emergence of CoreX will propel CoreDAO's Defi development to new heights. In the future, HTX Ventures will continue to pay attention to the CoreDAO ecosystem and promote the development of the ecosystem through our resources and advantages.
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关于 HTX Ventures：
HTX Ventures is the global investment arm of Huobi HTX, integrating investment, incubation, and research to identify the best and most promising teams in the world. As an industry pioneer with a decade of experience in blockchain, HTX Ventures promotes the development of cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models in the industry, providing comprehensive support for collaborative projects, including financing, resources, and strategic consulting to build a long-term blockchain ecosystem.
At present, HTX Ventures has supported more than 300 projects across multiple blockchain tracks, and some of the high-quality projects have been listed on Huobi HTX trading. At the same time, HTX Ventures is one of the most active fund of fund (FOF) investors, working with the world's top blockchain funds such as Dragonfly, Bankless Ventures, Gitcoin, Figment, Animoca and other top blockchain funds to build a blockchain ecosystem.