Binance to fund six DeFi projects developing on its Smart Chain

After Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said that the firm was pro-innovation in the DeFi space, his cryptocurrency exchange announced today that it would fund six DeFi projects building on its Binance Smart Chain as part of its earlier launched $100 million accelerator fund. 

Each project will be awarded a total of $350,000 in funds and access to resources within the Binance ecosystem. The firm claimed that over 180 projects had applied for grants, however, the firm was able to narrow down to six DeFi blockchain platforms such as AnySwap, Arkane Network, BakerySwap, Bitquery, Proxima and PancakeSwap, to which it would now provide “tangible financial opportunities” to the project developers. One of the winning projects PancakeSwap, an Automated Market Maker, which according to Binance was the “number one liquidity provider,” held over $218 million. 

CZ had stated earlier that these “successful” projects would have to go through the company’s security audits, after which the exchange may provide liquidity to their token and possibly list it on the exchange. 

A month ago, Binance had launched its mainnet version of the Smart Chain blockchain which enables creation of smart contracts and allows users to stake BNB. The blockchain is compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine, which may increase the utility of both Binance Chain and BNB token. So far, current DeFi projects like Aave, 1inch and dForce, have also intended to develop on the smart chain. Founder and CEO CZ said in a statement: 

Binance Smart Chain continues to bridge centralized finance, or CeFi, with the fast-growing world of DeFi. We launched the $100 million accelerator fund to further support the development of high-quality DeFi projects that contribute to building the industry’s infrastructure and technologies to better unlock DeFi’s potential.