The cryptoverse is volatile and ever-growing. Old tokens are coming back from the grave for no reason as often as new projects are recording stratospheric surges only to suffer meteoric drops in value. DeFi projects are appearing every day, replacing other DeFi projects in the user's preferences. Some ecosystems are absorbing new projects , such as Polkadot, growing the market share, while others are consolidating. The strongest consolidation move happened just days ago, when Harvest Finance launched the Binance Smart Chain side of the yield farm.

For the same reasons as above, I sometimes return to old reviews and trials, hoping to see changes and improvements. One of the projects everyone was praising and I wasn't really impressed was Venus Protocol. Venus enabled digital asset lending and innovated with the creation of VAI, a synthetic BEP-20 stable-coins. The whole concept is innovative and being backed up by Swipe (SXP) and Binance makes it trustable.

Venus 2020 :  A small Venus Trap for small insects

The value of Venus (XVS) was above $3 in December. I had farmed 7 XVS from the Binance Launchpool and you probably know that I don't like lazy crypto, therefore I looked for a method to put Venus to work. Added the full amount of XVS and the APY at the time was only 1.7%

I could also mint 31.91 VAI, amount based on the value of the liquidity provided as collateral. Minting VAI can be useful as it can be used for staking on other platforms, at better APY than Venus (XVS). A higher amount of rewards and interest can be obtained with VAI, and then the VAI can be repaid and the trader will keep the generated return.

I staked the for two weeks, earning "amazing" 0.024 XVS, approximately $0.11 at that time and $1.46 at today's price. This transaction costed me 0.04 BNB, which at today's price is over $18. Think about it and you will understand why this trial was a failure.

My conclusion after the trial was that Venus is like a small Venus Trap, the carnivorous plant. You will only trap your assets instead of gaining better rewards somewhere else.

Venus 2021 :  Bigger value ... same rewards

The Venus (XVS) price went crazy in 2021, and the little carnivorous plant evolved in a Disney princes. If the December 2020 value was close to $3, the April 2021 value reached to $67.29

The Cinderella story made me unstake the Venus - BNB LP from the CAKE farm and try Venus again. I hoped that this second trial will bring more value than the previous one. 

Can you have a first impression twice? Yes ... you can! The new Venus dashboard was looking smooth and easy to read. The improvement was visible and everything showed clear signs of evolution from what I tested only three months ago.

The supply markets and the borrow market are now listed at the bottom of the dashboard, with a good interactive menu for supplying collateral and easy to follow borrowing side.

I supplied 7.33 XVS and the approximated daily reward projection was $0.09. This is more than the $0.11 I obtained for two weeks of staking back in 2020, but let's not forget that the Venus (XVS) value grew 20x.

The Dashboard updated to reflect my staking, and I really liked the way everything gravitates around the "Estimated Daily Earning". The net APY was 12.05, a much bigger percentage than 3 months ago.

As the Venus value surged, the daily estimated earing raised by $0.11. However, the net APY dropped to 9.75%. The borrow limit was also affected, raising from $177.25 to $255.03 in less than two weeks. The Venus reward was 0.03 ($2) which I left unclaimed, as the fee requested to claim the reward was $4 worth of Binance Coin (BNB).

The second trial was a failure as well. Maybe a longer staking period, combined with a constant growth of XVS price, will probably make more profit but this has many downsides. The main downside of a longer period is that the reward is not auto compounding and a secondary negative aspect is that better rewards can be earned on other platforms, such as the BSC side of Harvest Finance. I unstaked everything, left the reward unclaimed, and for certain I will not return for a third trial.

Dear Venus ... dear goddess ... I adore you. Dear Venus (XVS) ... dear BEP-20 token ... you may look beautiful but when it comes to rewards, you are still in the Mesozoic Period. Venus (XVS) will look better on the tractor, entertaining Chad and the humble farmers.

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