Billion dollar grant fund launched as Binance Smart Chain posts 18% growth

Binance Smart Chain (BSC) launched one year ago and Binance has celebrated with the launch of the biggest ever crypto industry grant fund for BSC development.

Valued at a whopping $1bn, the funding represents a huge commitment to driving growth on the chain – and builds on significant success unlocked under the original BSC accelerator fund which granted $100m in start-up funding for development of BSC projects.

The accelerator fund was able to seed-fund more than 40 projects for the BSC ecosystem.

There will be four categories with available funding including a $100m talent development pool for R&D alongside academic scholarships, a $100m liquidity incentive programme, $300m builder’s programme for hackathons and the incubation of 100 VC backed dApps, and an eye-watering $500m investment and incubation fund for new BSC start-ups and projects.

Investments from the $500m incubation pot will target scaling blockchain technology for real-life use cases and projects aiming to bridge the gap between blockchain and crypto. Specifically-mentioned themes in the announcement included decentralised computing, gaming, metaverse, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and financial services

Binance clearly has the deep-pockets and user base – with 1m+ daily user interactions on BSC dApps – to push serious growth on BSC and, with the regulatory waters of the Binance exchange looking troubled, this could represent a new pivot of focus for the future.

Q3 2021 Binance Smart Chain (BSC) analysis

As Q3 closes and the numbers roll in – Coin Rivet takes a look at the state of the chain with leading Vilnius-based analysts at DappRadar.

The number of user active wallet (UAW) on the network has exploded this quarter, boasting an impressive 20% quarterly growth and an astonishing 18,228% increase year-over-year since BSC launched.

The total value locked (TVL) on the Binance Smart Chain at the end of Q3 registered a mind-boggling $17.78Bn – an 18% surge since last quarter – representing a huge wave of adoption as new investors and users race to the network.

Remarkably this significant growth has been largely driven by a rise in dApp gaming, with the number of daily UAW connected to gaming dApps rocketing by 1,700% since Q2.

This represents a substantial shift in user focus away from DeFi protocols – with the number of UAW interacting with DeFi apps dropping 14% this quarter.

Speaking to Coin Rivet, Skirmantas Januškas, CEO and co-founder of DappRadar, deciphered exactly what these numbers mean for the future of the Binance Smart Chain.

“As we explore the movers and shakers specifically on the Binance Smart Chain this quarter, we see reiterated that clear trend towards games adoption. Daily players are up 1,700%, DeFi investors are down 14%,” highlighted the CEO.

“These are both good numbers. On the one hand, DeFi is stabilising — gone are the days of crypto CeFi-ers questioning DeFi’s viability beyond the hype. Gone are the days also of this segment being a niche.

“On the other hand, gaming is becoming a key driver across the space and, having studied dApp trend curves every day for the past three years, I can safely say it will maintain this course.

“Data aside, my inkling would be that gaming mechanics will bring the next big transformation of our space. I’d give it no more than a couple of years to do so.”

Find out more: What is Binance Smart Chain (BSC?)