Bitcoin.com, a digital ecosystem and secure self-custody platform where users can safely and easily interact with cryptocurrencies and digital assets, announced completion of the pre-sale of its rewards and utility token VERSE, where 16% of the total supply was purchased for $50 million.

Bitcoin.com also announced the launch of VERSE trading on its decentralized exchange, the Verse DEX, starting at 00:30 UTC on Dec 8. The initial listing price will be $0.0015 per VERSE.

“The success of the Verse token sale despite severe bear market conditions is a testament to the quality of Bitcoin.com’s ecosystem token,” said Bitcoin.com CEO Dennis Jarvis. “I have no doubt that Verse will supercharge Bitcoin.com’s mission to create economic freedom by helping to onboard millions more people to Bitcoin and decentralized finance where they can take advantage of the benefits enabled by self-custody, transparency, and censorship resistance.”

The VERSE token will provide utility in Bitcoin.com’s ecosystem, which includes over 35 million self-custody wallets created in its multi-chain DeFi-ready mobile app, and an award-winning news portal with over 2.5 million monthly readers.

Verse will also act as a rewards mechanism to encourage positive actions such as taking self-custody of assets. For example, the Bitcoin.com team launched in November its CEX Education Program that will reward people affected by centralized crypto company insolvencies while encouraging the adoption of decentralized finance and self-custody. Five percent of the total VERSE token supply is dedicated to the program.

Verse additionally refers to an ecosystem of decentralized applications (DApps) that will guide millions of people on their journey beyond Bitcoin, including into decentralized finance (DeFi), one of the fastest-growing verticals in Web3 today. In that regard, the Bitcoin.com team launched the Verse Development Fund which will accelerate growth and innovation in Bitcoin.com’s Verse ecosystem while empowering projects that embody Bitcoin.com’s ethos of economic freedom and democratized finance. Thirty-four per cent of the VERSE token supply is allocated to the Verse Development Fund with tokens being made available to the fund on a block-by-block basis linearly over seven years.

Developers contributing to Verse through programs enabled by the Verse Development Fund will have access to Chainlink’s price feeds, random number generator, and smart contract automation tools thanks to a partnership between Bitcoin.com and the industry-standard Web3 services platform.

Other strategic buyers in the pre-sale of Bitcoin.com’s VERSE token include Digital Strategies, Blockchain.com, Kucoin Ventures, Redwood City Ventures, Boostx Ventures, and Poly Network.

Bitcoin.com’s Dennis Jarvis added, “The wide range of participants in the Verse token sale means Bitcoin.com can leverage quality networks, infrastructure, and tooling to ensure the Verse ecosystem thrives. Ultimately this will mean more opportunities for people to benefit from the power of decentralized finance.”

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