The Venus network is secured by the Binance Smart Chain, a blockchain that runs in parallel to the Binance Chain. BSC is compatible with the [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/) Virtual Machine (EVM) and is capable of running even if the Binance Chain goes offline or encounters issues. Binance Smart Chain utilizes a unique [consensus algorithm](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/consensus) known as proof-of-staked authority (POSA) to secure the [blockchain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/blockchain). This is essentially a hybrid consensus mechanism that combines aspects of both [proof-of-stake](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake) (POS) and proof-of-authority (POA). It is built around a network of 21 validators who are responsible for executing tasks on the Binance Smart Chain, and reaching consensus about recently processed transactions. Beyond this, Venus suppliers are protected by automatic liquidation measures, which will automatically liquidate the collateral of borrowers if it falls below 75% of their borrowed amount—thereby reimbursing suppliers early to maintain the minimum collateralization ratio.

Venus has a maximum total supply of 30 million XVS tokens, and just over 4.2 million XVS tokens were in circulation as of November 2020. Venus was one of the first platforms to conduct a Launchpool on Binance, which allowed users to farm XVS by staking different assets including Binance Coin (BNB), Binance USD (BUSD) and Swipe (SXP) tokens. A total of 20% of the total supply (6 million XVS) was allocated to the Binance Launchpool, and the token was listed shortly after on the Binance spot exchange platform. The project had no pre-sale or private sale, and the team has no token allocation, but 1% of the total supply (300,000 XVS) is reserved for Binance Smart Chain ecosystem grants. The remaining 23.7 million XVS tokens will be gradually unlocked over a period of four years as they are mined by those that use the Venus protocol. According to the project [white paper](https://venus.io/Whitepaper.pdf), 35% of daily XVS rewards are distributed to borrowers, 35% to suppliers, and the remaining 30% to VAI stablecoin minters.

Venus’ main strength is its high speed and extremely low transaction costs, which are a direct result of being built on top of the Binance Smart Chain. The protocol is the first to enable users to access lending markets for [Bitcoin (BTC)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/), [XRP](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/xrp/) Litecoin ([LTC](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/litecoin/)) and other cryptocurrencies to source [liquidity](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity) in real-time, thanks to its near-instant transactions. Customers sourcing liquidity using the Venus Protocol do not have to pass a credit check and can quickly take out a loan by interacting with the Venus decentralized application ([DApp](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-applications-dapps)). Since there are no centralized authorities in place, users are not restricted by their geographic region, credit score or anything else, and can always source liquidity by posting sufficient collateral. These loans are provided from a pool contributed by Venus users, who receive a variable APY for their contribution. These loans are secured by the over-collateralized deposits made by borrowers on the platform. To avoid market manipulation [attacks](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/51-attack), the Venus Protocol utilizes price feed [oracles](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/oracles-in-defi-101-a-deep-dive-by-tellor), including those from [Chainlink](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/chainlink/) to provide accurate pricing data that cannot be tampered with. Thanks to the Binance Smart Chain, the protocol can access the price feeds at a lower cost and with better efficiency, reducing the overall cost footprint of the system.

The development of the Venus project is being undertaken by the Swipe project team. The main goal of Venus is to achieve decentralization through community-governance. There are no pre-mines for the team, developers or founders, giving XVS holders total control over the path the Venus Protocol takes.

Venus is an algorithmic money market and synthetic stablecoin protocol launched exclusively on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The protocol introduces a simple-to-use crypto asset lending and borrowing solution to the decentralized finance ([DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-decentralized-finance)) ecosystem, enabling users to directly borrow against collateral at high speed while losing less to transaction fees. In addition, Venus allows users to mint VAI [stablecoins](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-a-stablecoin) on-demand within seconds by posting at least 200% collateral to the Venus smart contract. VAI tokens are synthetic BEP-20 token assets that are pegged to the value of one U.S. dollar (USD), whereas XVS tokens are also BEP-20-based, but are instead used for governance of the Venus protocol, and can be used to vote on adjustments—including adding new collateral types, changing parameters and organizing product improvements. The governance of the protocol is entirely controlled by XVS community members, since the Venus founders, team members and other advisors do have any XVS token allocations.