What is PancakeSwap (CAKE)?

The introduction of Decentralized Finance (DeFi), an absolute novelty in the financial sector, opened many doors to anyone who might not have had access to traditional finance before. This revolutionary idea seeks to make society financially inclusive without the need for any intermediaries to facilitate transactions. Decentralizing the world of finance refers to imagining a system, in which there would be no need for centralized exchanges but in which everyone can access numerous financial instruments only by using private wallets, without exposing private keys to third parties.

Ethereum gave the world its first Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs), which have successfully confirmed the demand for alternative financial solutions to traditional ones. Decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and SushiSwap emerged as the market leaders, and are still at the top regarding trading volumes. Unfortunately, the congestion problems of the Ethereum network and the consequent slowdown in the speed of transactions and high gas fees have prompted many developers to adopt alternative chains. The result was that many other DEXs, built on chains faster than Ethereum, were born and consequently considered valid competitors. PancakeSwap, a Binance-backed protocol, is one of them.

PancakeSwap was created by a group of anonymous developer, thanks to funding from Binance’s Accelerator Fund, although it is known that the team consists of more than a dozen members. It was finally launched on September 20, 2020, when the transaction costs on Ethereum were growing exponentially. PancakeSwap is a convenient alternative to DEXs on Ethereum based on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchain, which is known for its low costs. The platform is partially governed by the community, and the users can vote on governance proposals. PancakeSwap offers a similar operation to that of the aforementioned UniSwap and Sushiswap, with the difference that the standard of tokens exchanged on PancakeSwap must be BEP-20 (instead of ERC-20), which is the native standard of the BSC.

How Does PancakeSwap Work? AMM Model, Farming, and Staking

As mentioned, PancakeSwap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Binance Smart Chain. A DEX does not hold private keys and is defined as noncustodial. This means that in order to interact with it, users only need to connect their private wallet to the exchange. A DEX like PancakeSwap works on the automated market maker (AMM) model instead of the traditional one and exploits the so-called liquidity pools.

The AMM exchange is an automatic market price exchange that does not require you to set a limit buy/sell. The currencies required for exchanges are provided by liquidity pools, which usually consist of two coins equal proportion (50/50). People deposit their funds in these liquidity pools and receive incentives and trading fees to make their assets available.

Users can play two fundamental roles within PancakeSwap: a basic user, which is the one who makes simple exchanges, or a liquidity provider, which is the one who gives liquidity to the platform. If a user wants to put some of his or her coins to work, he or she can put liquidity into a pool, thus becoming a liquidity provider and earning rewards in two ways:

• Earnings from trading fees on the pool: Once liquidity is injected into a pool, any person wishing to trade the coins inside it will pay a fee to all pool participants.
• In addition, when the liquidity is deposited, the so-called LP (liquidity provider) tokens are obtained from the platform. These tokens represent the share of each user’s pool, and are used to calculate the final liquidity that can be withdrawn at the time of redemption.
• Earnings from farming & staking: LP tokens can be ‘farmed’ in another type of liquidity pool to earn PancakeSwap’s native BEP-20 token, CAKE. In a nutshell, the representation of the liquidity that has been lent can be blocked within the platform, which in turn rewards the user with additional tokens. \

But that is not all: users can stake their CAKE tokens to earn even more rewards from the so-called ‘SYRUP pools.’ The best part is that these rewards are no longer in the form of CAKE coins only, but by locking CAKE tokens in specific pools for a certain period, users can earn other BEP-20 tokens, which can be traded or withdrawn.

Note: Depositing funds into a 50/50 liquidity pool carries a risk of impermanent loss. This event occurs when the price of the provided tokens changes from when they were deposited. The greater this change, the more one is exposed to impermanent loss. The loss is realized permanently when the tokens are withdrawn from the pool and does not occur in pools consisting of non-volatile coins (e.g., two stablecoins, USDT/USDC).

PancakeSwap v3

PancakeSwap is a well-known decentralized exchange (DEX) that has evolved through several versions since its initial launch in 2020. After the release of v1, it transitioned to v2; in 2023, PancakeSwap introduced its v3 version. Both v1 and v2 primarily relied on the Automated Market Maker (AMM) model, allowing liquidity providers (LPs) to earn transaction fees by depositing assets into liquidity pools. As market demands shifted, PancakeSwap v2 introduced more efficient trading mechanisms and improved liquidity management features. Building on these advancements, PancakeSwap v3 further enhances capital efficiency and the overall user experience.

Key Features of PancakeSwap v3

1.Customizable/Concentrated Liquidity

Like Uniswap v3, PancakeSwap v3 allows liquidity providers (LPs) to offer liquidity within a specific price range rather than across an infinite range. This customization significantly enhances capital efficiency, enabling users to trade with narrower spreads. LPs can earn higher transaction fees by concentrating capital within a defined price range.

2.Trading Fees

PancakeSwap v3 introduces four fee tiers: 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.25%, and 1%. This is a departure from the flat 0.25% fee in v2, offering users more options to select a fee rate that aligns with their slippage tolerance.

3.Smart Router

The smart router in v3 intelligently identifies the optimal trading path by leveraging liquidity across PancakeSwap v3, v2, and StableSwap, thereby improving trading efficiency and reducing slippage.

4.VIP Trading Rewards Program

PancakeSwap v3 launches a VIP trading rewards program that offers additional incentives and fee rebates to high-volume traders, fostering greater activity on the platform.

PancakeSwap v3 has made significant improvements in capital efficiency, trading flexibility, and user experience, aiming to meet the evolving demands of the market and attract more liquidity providers and traders. With these new features, PancakeSwap seeks to maintain its competitive edge in the decentralized exchange space.

PancakeSwap v4

PancakeSwap v4 is the latest iteration of the DEX, offering various DeFi services such as trading, liquidity mining, and staking. Below is an overview of the key features of PancakeSwap v4:

Key Features of PancakeSwap v4

1.Three-Layer Modular Architecture

Recognizing the need for adaptability and scalability, PancakeSwap v4 separates accounting logic from AMM (Automated Market Maker) logic, creating a three-layer modular architecture composed of Vault, Pool Manager, and Hook. This design allows for easier integration of evolving AMM paradigms without requiring a complete protocol overhaul.

2.Flexibility

Compared to the limited flexibility in v3, PancakeSwap v4 adopts a more open approach, offering greater customization capabilities for pool creators. The introduction of “Hooks” enables the integration of customized features such as tailored oracles, dynamic fee components, active liquidity management strategies, and diverse order types. The non-upgradable core ensures stability, while each pool can integrate its own Hook smart contracts at creation.

3.Trading Experience

PancakeSwap v4 further reduces trading fees, saving users more when conducting transactions. The trading engine has also been optimized to shorten transaction processing times, enhancing the overall user experience. Additionally, each AMM implementation or pool type has an independent Singleton implementation, which optimizes gas efficiency for new pool deployments and multi-hop transactions. Flash Accounting complements the Singleton contract design by consolidating transaction settlement, calculating net balances for a batch of trades, and settling them collectively, thus reducing gas consumption.

PancakeSwap v4 represents a comprehensive upgrade to the PancakeSwap platform, aiming to improve user experience, enhance security, and offer richer DeFi functionalities. For users engaged in trading, liquidity mining, or staking on PancakeSwap, v4 provides better performance and higher potential returns.

What is veCAKE?

veCAKE is the new staking and governance model that replaces PancakeSwap’s previous CAKE Syrup Pool and vCAKE mechanism. Unlike vCAKE, veCAKE is not a real token and cannot be transferred; it serves solely as a scoring system for determining governance voting power. The calculation method for veCAKE is similar to vCAKE, based on the number of tokens staked and the remaining staking duration, with the maximum staking period set at four years.

However, not all pools follow the same calculation rules—some pools have multipliers or restrictions:

Impact of veCAKE: Enhanced Governance Value

Unlike the previous vCAKE system, veCAKE allows users to exert a more precise and effective influence on how CAKE token rewards are distributed. This enables them to support the liquidity of specific trading pairs according to their interests and strategies. Thus, the governance value of holding veCAKE is enhanced, benefiting project teams and professional investors who can influence the platform’s governance decisions more significantly.

What is the CAKE token?

CAKE is PancakeSwap’s BEP-20 native token that powers the PancakeSwap ecosystem. Its maximum supply is 750 million units, of which 144 million (19%) are already in circulation (October 2022).

The initial CAKE distribution was 75% to farmers and 25% to Syrup token holders. PancakeSwap’s liquidity mining program has an initial emission rate of 40 CAKEs per block (1.15 million CAKEs per day based on 30,000 blocks daily). Following some proposals passed by the community, the CAKE emission rate has been drastically lowered. Due to a complex token burn mechanism, from the 40 CAKEs emitted per block about 28 are burned, and the actual issue is approximately 12 CAKEs. The burning mechanism affects almost all the activities carried out within the platform in different percentages, including farming and trades.

Source: docs.pancakeswap.finance

CAKE is the yield farming reward token, but it can also be used in other ways, as listed below.

• Governance: CAKE holders can vote on the proposals for the improvement and development of PancakeSwap.
• Lottery: Users can use CAKE tokens to purchase lottery tickets and try their luck. The prizes are generally high, and the draw mechanism is provably fair.
• NFTs: With 1.5 CAKE, it is also possible to create a personal profile in the form of NFT and join a Team. Being part of a team allows you to participate in Team Battles, which are trading battles in which you win prizes in CAKE or the ownership of an NFT.

Other PancakeSwap Features: IFOs

PancakeSwap offers users a new ICO model called Initial Farm Offering (IFO). This offering is a fundraising model that helps new DeFi projects raise capital by participating in pre-sales events hosted by decentralized exchanges/applications. An IFO on PancakeSwap lets users obtain early access to PancakeSwap’s new tokens as soon as they are added.

To participate in an IFO, a user must lock CAKE tokens in the Syrup Pool to obtain iCAKE, determining the maximum CAKE commit limit in the PancakeSwap IFO public sales. At this point, the user can decide how many CAKEs he or she wants to commit to obtain the new IFO tokens, after the completion of the offering.

Is CAKE a Good Investment?

Since the day of its release, the PancakeSwap platform has not stopped developing and innovating, managing to offer more and more features to its users. For many retail users, PancakeSwap was a viable alternative to platforms built on Ethereum, which had become extremely expensive to use at the time. According to DefiLlama, the platform is in the eighth position regarding TVL (total value locked), with 2.83 billion locked. The CAKE token still gives high returns within PancakeSwap, making it very attractive. But it is not to be considered the classic ‘Farm & Dump’ token: thanks to the recently adopted complex token burn mechanisms and numerous use cases, the demand for CAKE remains quite stable, despite the current bear market period. Usually, it is during the bear market when the solidity and validity of a project are being noticed, so soon we will see if it could be a good idea to hold CAKE in a crypto wallet.

How to Own CAKE?

You can own CAKE via a crypto-centralized exchange and begin by creating a Gate.io account. Once the account is verified and funded, find out how to buy CAKE. You can do this via flash swap, trading the spot market or even using leverage.

News on PancakeSwap

On October 20, developers of PancakeSwap proposed deploying its mainnet on the brand new layer-1 blockchain Aptos, a project founded by two former Meta employees who were also working on the Diem project, Facebook’s controversial stablecoin. The team behind PancakeSwap aspires to complete the transition from the BSC chain to the new one as soon as possible to establish PancakeSwap as the leading exchange on Aptos and gain a larger market share through early deployment. The voting process for the new proposal started on October 21, and the whole community was invited to participate. Should the proposal pass, developers will deploy four main features of the DEX: swaps, farms, pools, and initial farm offerings. CAKE will also natively be available on the Aptos blockchain, marking the first time this token was available as a native token on another chain.

This change would not benefit the Binance Smart Chain, as it would partially lose one of its most successful DEXs. So far, the PancakeSwap team has justified this proposal with the following statements: “Aptos is a next-generation L1 with low transaction costs, high transaction throughput, and fast transaction speeds, utilizing a novel and developer-optimized approach to parallel execution. PancakeSwap has developed a strong relationship with the Aptos team, and a large number of its developer ecosystem are suitable for PancakeSwap partnerships and products”.

Useful References

For the latest updates about PancakeSwap, you can visit:

• The official website
• Twitter
• Reddit
• Discord
• GitHub
• Telegram

Take Action on CAKE

Check out CAKE price today and start trading your favorite currency pairs.

• CAKE/USDT
• CAKE/ETH