What Venus does

Venus Protocol is a decentralized money market protocol operating on BNB Chain, providing lending and borrowing services for crypto-native assets. The protocol enables users to supply assets including BTCB, BNB, USDT, solvBTC, asBNB, and WBNB to earn variable interest, or borrow against overcollateralized positions through immutable smart contracts built on BEP-20 and ERC-20 token standards. Its product surface spans four components: the core Venus Protocol money markets, Venus Vaults for advanced yield strategies, Venus Prime (a token-mintable premium tier launched in 2024 that boosts APY for power users), and a user-facing Dashboard for portfolio management. Governance is fully decentralized through Venus Improvement Proposals, with 649 VIPs executed by token holders controlling protocol parameters, asset listings, and upgrades.

The protocol operates a product-led growth model with no sales organization, channel partners, or customer onboarding intermediaries. Users access the platform directly through venus.io using any of 12 integrated Web3 wallets including MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Binance Wallet, Ledger, SafePal, OKX, and Gate.io, with no KYC or account registration required. Venus earns revenue from the interest spread between supply APY and borrow APY across its markets, with current observed spreads ranging from near-zero on solvBTC and asBNB to approximately 1.86% on USDT. The protocol's security posture is a central pillar: 70+ audits across six firms (Certik, Quantstamp, Code4rena, Cantina, pessimistic-io, plus Fairyproof, Hacken, and HashEx), a Certik-assigned 3rd-highest security ranking on BNB Chain (June 2021), and a Security Score of 94.

Name

Venus

Legal name

Venus Protocol

Website

https://venus.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Venus Protocol is a decentralized money market on BNB Chain that lets crypto users supply assets to earn interest or borrow against overcollateralized positions. It serves DeFi users globally through a permissionless, self-serve interface with no intermediaries and is governed by a community DAO.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Money Markets

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Decentralized Lending Protocols (DeFi Money Markets) (FSADAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Lending Protocol Infrastructure (Oracles, Rate Models, Vaults) (FSADAFAN)

Keywords

• Decentralized lending protocol
• Money market protocol
• Crypto lending borrowing
• DeFi yield markets
• BNB Chain DeFi

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Interest Spread: Venus Protocol earns revenue from the spread between supply APY (interest paid to lenders) and borrow APY (interest charged to borrowers). Users supply assets like BTCB, BNB, USDT to earn interest, while borrowers pay higher interest rates on their loans.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Venus Protocol is a decentralized money market built on BNB Chain that provides lending and borrowing of crypto assets (BTCB, BNB, USDT, solvBTC, asBNB, WBNB) via immutable smart contracts. Users supply assets to earn variable supply APY or borrow against overcollateralized positions at variable borrow APY, with optional Venus Prime token minting to access boosted yields on select markets.

Product overview

Venus Protocol is a decentralized, community-driven DeFi protocol delivering universal money markets on BNB Chain. The platform operates as a unified ecosystem consisting of the core Venus Protocol money markets (for lending and borrowing), supplemented by Venus Prime (a premium token-based feature that amplifies returns for power users by offering superior rates on select markets), Venus Vaults (for advanced yield strategies), and a user-facing Dashboard. The protocol supports BEP-20 and ERC-20 assets, operates on EVM-compatible chains, and is governed by the Venus community through Venus Improvement Proposals. Venus Prime represents the flagship enhancement, mintable via tokens to boost APY on supply positions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Venus Prime: Yield amplification feature for power users to enjoy superior rates on select markets in the Venus core pool.

Products and services

• Venus Protocol (Core Money Markets) Universal money markets protocol providing simple yet powerful lending and borrowing for any DeFi yield strategy on BNB Chain. Users supply crypto assets (BTCB, BNB, USDT, solvBTC, asBNB, WBNB) to earn variable supply APY or borrow against collateral at variable borrow APY.
• Venus Markets Core lending and borrowing markets where users can supply assets to earn interest or borrow against their collateral. Supports assets including BTCB, BNB, USDT, solvBTC, asBNB, WBNB and others, with market-driven variable interest rates.
• Venus Vaults Vault functionality for advanced DeFi yield strategies, accessible through the Venus Protocol. Designed for users seeking automated or structured yield strategies on top of the core money markets.
• Venus Prime Premium feature that amplifies returns for power users. Users can mint Venus Prime Tokens to enjoy superior (boosted) rates for select markets in the Venus core pool, offering enhanced APY on supply positions.
• Venus Dashboard User interface dashboard for managing positions, viewing portfolio balances, earned interest, and overall Venus Protocol activity across supplied and borrowed assets.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 34.37% APY available on select markets
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration12 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Aave: Largest decentralized lending protocol with multi-chain deployment (Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, etc.). Competes head-to-head with Venus for lending/borrowing TVL across similar assets.
• Compound: Pioneer Ethereum-based decentralized money market. Operates an algorithmic supply/borrow interest rate model essentially identical to Venus's core mechanism.
• MakerDAO: Decentralized lending protocol issuing DAI against crypto collateral. Closely comparable on the borrowing side via overcollateralized vaults and CDP-style positions.
• JustLend: Leading decentralized lending protocol natively deployed on BNB Chain and Tron. Most direct in-ecosystem competitor to Venus on its home chain.

Emerging players

• Spark: Ethereum L2-focused lending protocol (Sky/Maker ecosystem) with growing DAI/sDAI savings market. Comparable money market model with growing institutional integration.
• Silo Finance: Isolated lending markets protocol on Ethereum. Comparable on the long-tail asset lending use case where each market has isolated risk.
• Euler: Permissionless lending protocol on Ethereum supporting long-tail asset markets. Comparable modular money market design to Venus's Universal Money Markets.
• Radiant: Cross-chain omnichain money market protocol using LayerZero. Competes with Venus on multi-asset lending and borrows against collateral.
• Morpho: Peer-to-peer lending layer optimizing rates atop Aave/Compound. Competes for yield-sensitive DeFi lenders using similar overcollateralized mechanisms.

Broad incumbents

• dYdX: Decentralized derivatives and margin trading platform that also offers lending/borrowing functionality. Overlaps with Venus on the collateralized borrowing and margin use case.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/VenusProtocol
• Facebookfacebook.com/venusprotocolofficial
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/venusdefi

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Venus