GuShiio.com Institutional adoption of Bitcoin is at a critical turning point. Core introduces dual pledges through Fusion upgrades, superimposes its income-based ETP, CoreFi strategies, etc., to provide a solution for the real income of Bitcoin.
Author: Weilin, PANews
In the current cycle, institutional adoption of Bitcoin has become a closely watched trend. A survey by Fidelity showed that there is a large amount of untapped demand for Bitcoin adoption. Under the influence of the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States and the shift in regulatory policies, governments and large funds have begun to regard Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. The United States may establish a strategic reserve of Bitcoin, and more and more countries and institutions may follow suit, which may spawn a new financial paradigm, and institutional adoption of Bitcoin is at a critical turning point.
Core introduces dual pledges through Fusion upgrades, superimposes its income-based ETP, CoreFi strategies, etc., to provide a solution for the real income of Bitcoin. Messari recently released Core’s growth indicators in Q4 2024. It can be seen that in the Bitcoin ecosystem, as the user base expands, Bitcoin has a trend of transforming from investment institutionalization to consumer chain. As of February 4, more than 5700 bitcoins have been pledged on the Core chain, with a total locked value of more than US$850 million.
Current situation of institutional investment in Bitcoin: There is a large amount of untapped demand and is at a critical turning point
A survey released by Fidelity Digital Assets in June 2024 showed that institutional investors ‘interest in Bitcoin is gradually increasing. The survey surveyed more than 1000 institutional investors around the world the previous year. In the survey, 60% of institutions said they knew something about digital assets, and 51% said they were currently investing in digital assets. In 2019, only 39% of institutions had knowledge of digital assets. Among U.S. investors in 2019, only 22% were investing in digital assets.
If you analyze these data in depth, you can discover two types of investors. On the one hand, individual-driven institutional investors, such as high-net-worth individuals, investment advisory firms, crypto hedge funds/VCs, etc., 70 to 80% have invested in digital assets. On the other hand are large institutions, such as pension funds, traditional hedge funds, endowments, foundations, which unfortunately remain in single digits. The current market value of Bitcoin is about US$2 trillion. The adoption of Bitcoin by institutional investors is at a critical turning point, and there is a large amount of untapped demand.
In 2024, well-known institutions such as Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), BlackRock, ARK Invest, and Fidelity will enhance Bitcoin’s market presence through strategic investments and innovative financial products (such as Bitcoin ETFs). As of January 24, Strategy held 471,107 bitcoins, with a total cost of approximately US$30.4 billion. Throughout 2024, the company also purchased 258,320 bitcoins.
With the approval of the Bitcoin Spot ETF and the Trump administration’s support for crypto assets, more and more large companies and institutions are beginning to adopt Bitcoin reserve plans. Companies such as Strategy, MARA Holdings, and Riot Platforms have included bitcoin in their financial reserves, and cryptocurrencies have gradually integrated into the mainstream conversation. Under the leadership of the new U.S. administration, plans for Bitcoin as an asset reserve are being explored at the state and federal levels. It is expected that the new regulatory model will further promote institutional adoption of Bitcoin.
In terms of asset characteristics, Bitcoin provides high returns (an eight-year return of 9800%). Although it is accompanied by higher risks and volatility, it has low correlation with traditional assets, making it an ideal portfolio diversification tool. Compared with traditional alternative assets such as real estate and art, Bitcoin has obvious advantages in terms of liquidity, transparency and divisibility.
How Core enhances real revenue solutions: Fusion upgrades introduce dual pledge, revenue-based ETP and CoreFi strategies
Institutions invest through direct purchases, Bitcoin futures, ETFs, custody services, and BTCFi-related stocks. Core provides institutions with the option of BTCFi-pledge, which can safely and stably obtain income.
In April 2024, the Core blockchain integrated the unmanaged Bitcoin pledge function for the first time, allowing users to pledge Bitcoin and earn revenue while retaining full control of assets. This native mechanism does not require the introduction of additional trust assumptions to generate Bitcoin gains.
On November 19, 2024, Core launched the Fusion upgrade. PANNews once introduced that Core will usher in new market opportunities in the Bitcoin ecosystem based on this upgrade. The launch of the dual pledge product aims to solve the problem of community reward distribution balance that may be caused by Bitcoin pledgers receiving CORE token rewards through verification nodes after locking their assets in the non-custodial pledge process. Especially if an institution pledges a large amount of Bitcoin, the released CORE rewards will increase accordingly. Based on this background, in order to encourage Bitcoin pledgers to re-pledge the CORE rewards they receive to the verification node, dual pledge increases users ‘willingness to participate by providing a higher annualized rate of return (APY).
In order to further improve the revenue generation of unmanaged bitcoin pledges, the dual pledge mechanism unlocks a higher revenue level by simultaneously pledging bitcoin and CORE tokens. Since daily CORE emissions are fixed, users who pledge both Bitcoin and CORE will receive a higher reward level. The increase in rewards is linked to the number of CORE tokens pledged, encouraging Bitcoin pledgers to participate more deeply in the Core ecosystem and maximize the return on revenue for loyal users.
Recently, Core also launched the income-based Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) for the first time, providing investors with the opportunity to earn income through unmanaged Bitcoin pledges. Working with Valour, a subsidiary of DeFi Technologies, this ETP provides investors with a yield of 5.65%, becoming an important way for institutional investors to enter the BTCFi ecosystem.
On February 4, DeFi Technologies reached a binding letter of intent with CoreFi Strategy and Orinswift Ventures to promote a reverse takeover that would allow the combined entity’s common stock to be listed on the Cboe Canadian Stock Exchange. The Core Foundation will contribute $20 million worth of CORE tokens to strengthen CoreFi’s financial reserves. At the same time, CoreFi plans to raise US$20 million through simultaneous financing to accelerate its development in BTCFi technology.
In addition, Core has also established partnerships with hosting services such as Fireblocks, Copper, Cactus and Hashnote to support dual pledges. Inspired by the successful experiences of Strategy and Metaplane, CoreFi Strategy provides institutional investors with a regulated investment approach to leverage Bitcoin and CORE gains.
On February 18, the Core Foundation partnered with Maple Finance, BitGo, Copper and Hex Trust to announce the launch of lstBTC. lstBTC will become a new type of liquid, revenue-bearing Bitcoin token on the Core blockchain. It is specially designed for institutions and aims to generate income from idle bitcoins. By converting Bitcoin into productive assets, lstBTC provides holders with a way to convert billions of dollars into revenue while maintaining security, compliance and liquidity.
Institutions can coin lstBTC by depositing bitcoins into a trusted custodian such as BitGo, Copper, or Hex Trust. LstBTC generates income while remaining fully liquid-institutions can trade, transfer or use lstBTC as collateral. When redeemed, the holder will receive his original bitcoin and a proportionate amount of proceeds directly into his escrow account.
The uniqueness of lstBTC include:
Unlike other Bitcoin revenue solutions, lstBTC is designed for institutions without the need to transfer assets or take unnecessary risks.
There is no need to change custody arrangements-institutions can continue to deposit bitcoins in existing custodians.
Real BTC gains-Get gains denominated in BTC through Core’s dual pledge mechanism without having to transfer Bitcoin out of the custodian.
Fully liquid and scalable-lstBTC can be traded, transferred or used as collateral while the underlying bitcoin is still generating revenue.
Designed for institutional use cases-seamlessly integrated into existing and new portfolio strategies to increase returns.
New data-based trends: Core leads Bitcoin adoption, transitioning from institutional investment to consumer chain
As the bluff and hype fade away, the blockchain field tends to focus more on practical applications and real user growth. Core is becoming the consumer chain of Bitcoin, promoting the practical application of Bitcoin and achieving continued user growth.
According to a third-party report from well-known research institution Messari, in the fourth quarter of 2024, Core’s DeFi TVL (US dollar) increased by 90% month-on-month to US$811.8 million. Avalon Labs tops the DeFi TVL list, followed by Colend and Pell Network. Pell Network launched the Bitcoin restaking feature in August, bringing new growth drivers to the Core ecosystem.
Core and BTC pledges (in US dollars) increased by 31% month-on-month to US$730.5 million. The increase was mainly due to the 500 bitcoins pledged through Core’s unmanaged bitcoin pledge product, which was launched in April.
Core’s average daily active addresses increased by 160% month-on-month to 249,700. By the end of the fourth quarter, Core’s cumulative total number of independent wallets was 34.8 million. Expenses increased 97% month-on-month to US$235,000.
Core released a Fusion upgrade in the fourth quarter, introduced dual pledge and introduced LstBTC. In the fourth quarter, a total of 1,298 bitcoins and 16.5 million COREs were double pledged, accounting for 22% and 19% of all bitcoins and all COREs pledged on the Core network, respectively.
In terms of data performance, Core has achieved real user growth and continued block space demand, leading its competitors. Looking ahead, Core’s Q1 work will focus on further developing relationships with hosting/institutional partners.
With the trend of consumer chains emerging in the Bitcoin ecosystem, Core is leading this transformation and promoting the true application and popularization of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Through innovative pledge mechanisms, income-based financial products and a strong partner network, Core not only provides stable income channels for institutional investors, but also creates more participation opportunities for ordinary users. In the future, as the regulatory environment becomes clearer and technology continues to advance, Core is expected to continue to play an important role in promoting Bitcoin’s transformation from an investment tool to a consumer chain.
