When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
CoreDAO’s utility and governance token CORE is gaining investor interest after surging nearly 300% in the last 30 days, as of April 9, 2024, to become the top-performing token among the 100 largest cryptos by market cap.
Since its mainnet launch in January 2023, the Core blockchain has been on a mission to unlock the dormant decentralized finance (DeFi) potential of the world’s most valuable blockchain — Bitcoin.
In this article, we uncover the Core blockchain, discuss its key features, and study CORE tokenomics.
What is CoreDAO?
Core is an EVM-compatible layer one (L1) blockchain that uses Bitcoin miners to secure its network. Core is a standalone blockchain that aims to serve as a smart contract platform to unlock Bitcoin DeFi.
The Core blockchain’s distinguishable feature is the use of a unique consensus mechanism that combines delegated proof-of-work (dPoW) and delegated proof-of-stake (dPoS).
dPoW requires Bitcoin miners to delegate their hash rate to select Core validators. dPoS requires CORE tokenholders to delegate their CORE stake to select Core validators. The delegation procedure is essentially a voting process through which a set of 21 validators with the highest delegation score are elected to take turns in producing Core blocks.
According to Core, its unique consensus mechanism provides Bitcoin miners with additional income – in the form of Core block rewards – to cover their expenses in securing the Bitcoin blockchain.
CoreDAO’s Potential to Unlock Bitcoin Economy
A key market narrative that has helped CORE price performance in recent months is “Bitcoin DeFi.”
While Bitcoin is a blockchain lauded for its security, censorship-resistance and decentralization, it is also known for its rigidity to change and limitations related to its programmability.
Unlike other L1 chains, Bitcoin does not support smart contracts which limits the potential of the $1.4 trillion Bitcoin economy – as of April 9, 2024 – to host a vibrant DeFi ecosystem.
As a smart contract platform, Core aims to unlock Bitcoin DeFi by bringing added utility to the Bitcoin asset. Here are key features how Core is enabling Bitcoin DeFi:
- Non-custodial Bitcoin Staking
Non-custodial Bitcoin staking on Core allows BTC holders to earn yield on their otherwise passive BTC tokens by using a Bitcoin-native cryptographic feature called absolute time lock, which locks tokens for a pre-defined period of time.
Using absolute time locks, BTC holders delegate their tokens to Core validators to earn yield without giving up custody of their coins to external staking.
Non-custodial Bitcoin staking is still underdevelopment, as of early-April 2024.
- CoreBTC
CoreBTC is a wrapped Bitcoin asset that locks BTC tokens on Bitcoin to mint coreBTC on Core blockchain.
In order to mint coreBTC, users send their Bitcoin to a locker’s Bitcoin address. Lockers are nodes responsible for securely holding users’ Bitcoin on the Bitcoin blockchain. Anyone can register as a Locker by depositing BTC collateral.
A separate entity called porters verify and confirm BTC deposits and submit proofs to a smart contract on the Core chain. Once the authenticity and finality of the relevant Bitcoin transaction is finalized, an equivalent amount of coreBTC is minted.
Tokenomics
CORE is native token of the Core blockchain. CORE’s main use cases are:
- Gas payment
- Staking
- On-chain Core network governance
Here are other important details on CORE’s tokenomics:
| Metric | Data |
| Maximum supply | 2.1 billion tokens |
| Hard cap | Yes |
| Token burning mechanism | A percentage of all block rewards and transaction fees burned; Exact percentage determined by DAO |
| Emissions | Block rewards paid out over an 81-year period; Block rewards reduce by 3.6% each year |
| Circulating supply | 878.75 million tokens or 41.8% of max supply as of April 8, 2024 |
| Price | $2.6, as of April 8, 2024 |
| Market cap | $2.33 billion, as of April 8, 2024 |
| Rank | 53rd biggest crypto by market cap, as of April 8, 2024 |
Here are details on Core’s token distribution:
| Purpose | Allocation |
| Node mining | 39.995% of total supply |
| Users – airdrops | 25.029% of total supply |
| Contributors | 15% of total supply |
| Reserves | 10% of total supply |
| DAO treasury | 9.5% of total supply |
| Relayer rewards | 0.476% of total supply |
CORE Aidrop and Price Analysis: Best Month Since Debut
On February 8, 2023, CoreDAO airdropped 525.6 million CORE tokens or 25% of its total token supply to its users.
The CORE listed on the OKX exchange on its first day of open market trade, rising to an all-time high of $6.9 on its debut.
However, the token saw consistent selling pressure through the rest of the year, ultimately bottoming at an all-time low of $0.3432 on November 3, 2023.
CORE prices bounced back towards the end of 2023 boosted by bullish market sentiment in the lead up to the approval of spot Bitcoin ETF by the US SEC in January 2024.
Between November 2023 and March 2024, CORE posted monthly gains in four months out of five.
In March 2024, CORE jumped nearly 300% to post its best monthly gain since its debut. The launch of coreBTC in late-March and an ongoing six-month incentive campaign called Core Ignition were key drivers of the recent uptick in active addresses on the Core Chain.
At the time of writing, CORE price stood at $2.6, 59% below its all-time high.
The Bottom Line
The Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem is a hotly-contested sector given the lucrative prize that awaits the winner. Bitcoin layer 2s (L2) including Lightning Network and Stacks (STX) are widely regarded as the leaders in the space.
However, CoreDAO distinguishes itself with its unique consensus mechanism and its sidechain design that allows it to unlock Bitcoin DeFi without “inheriting many of its limitations.”
